Doctors Prescribing Books to our Youngest Learners

Reading. It’s a fun and easy was to help a child build their vocabulary. Twenty Essentia Health family clinics have started their Reach out and Read program. And pediatricians say literacy is a key to early childhood development and success in the classroom.

Kids between six month and five years old receive a book during their visits to make sure they have an early start to their educations. And can learn to pull words off the pages and use them while talking with their parents.

And it also allow a three-year-old older sister practice reading to her 18-moth-old brother.

Every Minnesota 3-5 year old is prescreened before they start kindergarten. Reach Out and Read coordinators say they hand pick books to help build soft skills like sharing and self-confidence to prepare kids for kindergarten.

Over the next three years the program will know whether they’ve helped kids in this area develop those soft skills and be more prepare for the classroom.