REACH OUT AND READ MASSACHUSETTS NEWSLETTER

In This Issue

A New Book Source

Essential Delivery Information

The Power of Play

Two New Books You Should Know About

Thank You!

New Contact Information for Reach Out and Read Massachusetts

Welcome to Our Newest Site

Marshfield Pediatrics, Marshfield

Site Bites: Useful Tips from Clinics Around the Commonwealth

We are starting a new feature in our quarterly newsletter - Site Bites - in which we feature useful tips from Reach Out and Read practices throughout Massachusetts.

Our first Site Bite comes from Western MA.

"We are so pleased to be able to choose books together as a team. We pass book catalogs around and reminisce about books we and our children love. This boosts morale for the program and gets the entire

office behind the model."

If you want to do this at your next staff meeting, and need a Scholastic catalogue, your Regional Coordinator can help.

A Reminder and a Request

The Reminder: Reach Out and Read suggests that once a year sites devote part of a staff meeting to a review of systems and best practices for their Reach Out and Read program. A guideline for that meeting is available here.

One practice suggested that scheduling the meeting can be made simpler if it is held on the anniversary of your join date, which is shown on www.myror.org on the left, under the site number.

The Request: When we first posted this request, several years ago, only a small percentage of sites had websites; now most do. We would appreciate it if you would include the Reach Out and Read logo on your webpage and link it to the Reach Out and Read National website.

Latest Research

As we mentioned in the opening letter, recent national press coverage in CNN and Huffington Post Parent has focused on research showing differences in brain activation associated with reading aloud to young children.

An article in the New York Times Well Health Blog by Dr. Perri Klass, Reach Out and Read National Medical Director, examines this study, alongside another showing that reading aloud exposes children to a wider vocabulary than just talking to them.

Dr. Klass explains very clearly how these two new studies help elucidate the mechanism of the way in which reading aloud to young children supports the development of early literacy skills, and ties the research into the work of Reach Out and Read.

FALL 2015

Serving 194,353 Massachusetts children

at 304 clinical locations

Dear Colleagues,

It has been a busy summer with a flurry of exciting activity in the national press about early literacy and brain development! "Two new studies examine the unexpectedly complex interactions that happen when you put a small child on your lap and open a picture book" states Perri Klass MD, Reach Out and Read National Medical Director, in the NY Times Well Health Blog. You can read more about these studies in this newsletter.

Throughout the Commonwealth, as well as nationally, Reach Out and Read has been partnering with libraries and museums, and has created a Prescription for Success Toolkit for Reach Out and Read sites, highlighting creative ways to connect with your local libraries and museums. Our next Massachusetts conference, The Journey to Literacy Begins at Birth: and Leads to Museums and Libraries, to be held at Springfield's Wood Museum on Friday, November 13th, will highlight this partnership, with presentations by the Eric Carle Museum of Picturebook Art, the Springfield Museums, the Department of Early Education and Care's library-based Early Childhood Resource Centers, and Raising a Reader.

We also want to thank Reach Out and Read sites who hosted legislative visits this spring. After intense lobbying and last-minute votes, Massachusetts secured additional funding for FY16 for Reach Out and Read through our grant from the Department of Early Education and Care. The last few years have been lean, allowing us to provide only about 50% of our sites' book needs. We are looking forward to being able to provide more books with this increased funding.

On a sad note, Reach Out and Read lost a tireless advocate this summer. Gretchen Hunsberger, former Massachusetts Programs Director, was a familiar figure to many Massachusetts Reach Out and Read practices. Please read more about Gretchen's legacy at Reach Out and Read below.

With many thanks to all of you for your commitment to

bringing books and a love of reading to your youngest patients,

Heather Robinson,

Central Massachusetts Regional Coordinator

Memorial Award Established In Memory of Gretchen Hunsberger

Reach Out and Read is saddened by the loss of our colleague Gretchen Hunsberger on August 31, 2015. Gretchen began her work for Reach Out and Read as On-Site Coordinator at the Lynn Community Health Center, where she developed a large and thriving book resource for the surrounding community before becoming Massachusetts Programs Director in 2004. After significantly expanding the Massachusetts Reach Out and Read presence, including developing a video-based training that became the national standard, Gretchen served as Northeast Regional Director for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut, and ultimately filled a newly-created position as Director of Program Quality and Training.

Gretchen brought her deep intelligence, savvy, creativity, and ability to make things happen to benefit all the 21,000 doctors and nurse practitioners practicing Reach Out and Read across the nation...and most importantly, to the 4.5 million children they serve.

A memorial service will be held at 2 pm on Saturday, October 3rd at Belleville Church, 300 High St. in Newburyport. Details and more about Gretchen's life can be read here

In honor of Gretchen, Reach Out and Read has established an annual Gretchen Hunsberger Reach Out and Read Medical Champion Award, recognizing a doctor or other medical provider who has been extraordinary as a trainer, as a clinician and clinical director, and as an example of personal and professional medical leadership that helps make the delivery of this program all it can be. This award, which will be presented for the first time at Reach Out and Read's national conference next year, reflects Gretchen's deep commitment to Reach Out and Read medical providers and the quality of the program they deliver to their patients and families, and celebrates the tremendous work that Gretchen did to draw providers closer to the science and the best practices of Reach Out and Read.

A New Book Source:

Scholastic Classroom Bookfairs

Middleboro Pediatrics, Cape Cod Pediatrics, and our newest site, Marshfield Pediatrics, have discovered a secret source in the hunt for more low-cost, high-quality books: Scholastic in-class bookfairs.

By partnering with a classroom teacher, providers at these sites have found that they can get a wider range of titles for the 3-5 age group than is generally available, sometimes for as little as $1 apiece...and teachers get lots of extra classroom points when sites place large orders--a win-win!

Key to creating this partnership is to find a teacher to partner with. Some providers (like Dr. Sullivan of Marshfield Pediatrics) are lucky enough to have one in the family; others have elementary school children or grandchildren who participate in the program. A patient's parent may be willing to help, or a practice can contact a local elementary school.

Once a classroom is found, Dr. Aaron Bornstein of Middleboro Pediatrics suggests online ordering: "Enrollment through the teacher's classroom allowed me to set up an account online, which gives more flexibility and options for book ordering." Dr. Bornstein also points out that "some pre-school/daycare programs also utilize the Scholastic program, and supporting their classroom by purchasing and giving them a donation/points can help establish and secure a positive and mutually beneficial relationship." Cape Cod Pediatrics also orders online, and is waiting for their first shipment.

We hope to hear about other sites who are making use of this creative opportunity to increase the variety of books given out--let us know if you are doing so, or if you need any more information to create a connection with a classroom! And thank you to Middleboro, Cape Cod, and Marshfield for this creative idea for a partnership!

Prevent Book Delivery Issues

The Fall Book Award order will be placed shortly, with books due to arrive around the end of October. As usual, sites with 100% of providers having completed the online CME Course will receive a bonus shipment of books.

Some recent delivery snafus remind us to ensure that all sites are aware of Scholastic's delivery policy. Scholastic's free shipping requires that books are delivered at least across the threshold of the building at the shipping address. If a driver will not do so, please ask him or her to call the dispatcher and check Scholastic's delivery instructions. Scholastic is very clear that they are paying for "inside delivery", and sites have a right to this. However, inside delivery means just that--inside the building. The driver is not obligated to take books upstairs or into an office, although many do without question.

In addition, if you are expecting a large shipment, please make sure that the shipping address listed on your progress report has a loading dock that can accommodate a truck delivery. If this is not possible, please get in touch with your Regional Coordinator to make alternate delivery arrangements before you submit your report.

Posters and Books from Boston Children's Museum and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Support the Power of Play

Regional Coordinators have delivered these Boston Children's Museum posters to many sites by now. Please put them up! Perhaps patients in your office don't have to wait long....but just in case they do, these posters, when posted in the waiting or exam room, will give parents an interactive way to play with their children--an alternative to screens.

The posters feature activities designed to

coordinate with A Box Can Be Many Things and the I Spy books that were included in the spring book award and will be sent again this fall. We hope that they will be displayed in waiting rooms and exam rooms to encourage playful engagement between children and their caregivers.

And, an additional group of books supporting play, donated by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, will be sent to some Boston area sites this fall.

As Dr. Michael Yogman, Board Chair, Boston Children's Museum, and Chair of the Child Mental Health Task Force of the Massachusetts Chapter of the AAP, said in his recent letter: "play is the essential foundation for all of children's learning." We hope to hear how you are using the posters and books to promote the power of play!

Two New Books You Should Know About....

This new book from Dana Suskind, MD, founder and director of the 30 Million Words Initiative, translates the powerful science behind children's brain development, and the way language shapes the brain and academic achievement. Told through stories, it is about elevating all of early childhood and the power of parents, and includes discussion related to Reach Out and Read. Thirty Million Words is available from Amazon.

Read Baby, Every Day, by Reach Out and Read doctor John Hutton, is also available from Amazon. A rhyming board book that is lovely to read to babies also has an underlying message about the importance of reading to children from the early days. Please consider using it to inspire families to read to their children as early as possible. Dr. Hutton is also the author of Sleep, Baby, Safe and Snug, a book reminding parents of safe sleep practices that was distributed to Reach Out and Read Massachusetts sites last fall, as part of an initiative by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Special Thanks To....

Jane Tyacke, store manager.

The Hanna Andersson store in the Burlington Mall collected almost 500 wonderful used books for Reach Out and Read clinics around the Boston area. Their customers were asked to bring in a gently-used book for a discount on the children's clothes in the store. We are especially thrilled with all the board books, which will be snapped up quickly in clinics where a toddler is often left without the "extra" book to take home when he or she is there for their sibling's visit or for a sick visit. It is a wonderful thing to be able to help children and families create their own libraries.

Kasey Auger, teacher at the Bellingham School, awaits her fate!

The Goddard School in Burlington recently held a Carnival night for in-house families and anyone who wanted to join in. They rented a dunk tank and for a small donation children and parents could try and dunk a teacher...or even the Director! All money raised was donated to Franklin Pediatrics to help fill their book requirement.

Dr Seuss came to Boston Children's Hospital September 14....with the help of author Trish Rabe, and supported by Bob's Discount Furniture.

In a closed loop video showing the event live to all inpatient children, as well as to those who came to the Ryan Seacrest Studio, Trish presented a lively story of writing books in the tradition of Dr Seuss as requested by the Seuss Foundation. Then Cat #1 and Cat #2 read Oh The Things You Can Do That Are Good For You and talked with young members of the audience and learned lots about food they liked!

Bob's then presented Becca Shaw, Reach Out and Read Coordinator for the Children's Hospital Primary Care Clinics, with a $1,000 gift card to support the program......with things like bookshelves! Children's Hospital Foundation organized the event with the support of Reach Out and Read Connecticut Executive Director, Chris Garber.

REACH OUT AND READ MASSACHUSETTS CONTACT INFORMATION

89 South Street

Boston 02111

Phone: 617.455.0636 Fax: 617.455.0601

Alison Corning Clarke, MA, MSW - Massachusetts Programs Director alison.clarke@reachoutandread.org

Carole Ferguson, PNP - Boston Area Regional Coordinator carole.ferguson@reachoutandread.org

Sara Stewart, MA - Western MA Regional Coordinator sara.stewart@reachoutandread.org

Heather Robinson, MPH - Central MA Regional Coordinator heather.robinson@reachoutandread.org

Marilyn Augustyn MD - Massachusetts Medical Director marilyn.augustyn@reachoutandread.org