ROR

Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud in pediatric exam rooms across the nation. The mission is to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud and to give books to children at pediatric check-ups from six months to five years of age. A special focus is placed on children growing up in poverty. By building on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers, Reach Out and Read helps families and communities cultivate early literacy skills so that children enter school prepared to succeed at reading.
Doctors and nurses know that growing up healthy means growing up with books. The ROR program provides the tools to help promote children's developmental skills and later school success. Southeast LA AHEC has developed five ROR sites in the southeast region, including Mandeville Pediatrics, LSU Bogalusa Clinic, Lallie Kemp Medical Center, MultiPractice Clinic in Independence, and Kentwood Pediatrics.

Pediatricians and other clinicians are trained in the three part ROR model in an effort to promote pediatric literacy:

1. At every well-child check-up, doctors and nurses encourage parents to read aloud to their young children, and offer age-appropriate tips and encouragement. Parents who may have difficulty reading are encouraged to invent their own stories to go with picture books and spend time naming objects with their children.
2. Providers give every child between the ages of six months and five years a new, developmentally appropriate children's book to keep.
3. In literacy rich waiting room environments, often with volunteer readers, parents and children learn about the pleasures and techniques of looking at books together.

If you would like to become a part of Reach Out and Read Program please contact us.