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Report Shows Less than Half of Kids in California are Being Read To Daily |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A report released today reveals that California ranks in the bottom half of the nation --- 42nd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia --- in the percentage of children who are read to daily by their parents. According to "Reading Across the Nation: A Chartbook," prepared by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities for the nonprofit Reach Out and Read National Center, only 44.6 percent of Californian children between birth and the age of 5 are read to every day by a parent. Research has shown that up to one-third of American children enter kindergarten underprepared to learn, mostly because their early years leave them without the necessary language and literacy skills. "This report proves that physicians and policymakers have work to do," said Dr. Shirley Russ, associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, who led the research team that compiled the report. UCLA's Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities understands the importance of reading aloud and has several innovative programs in place to help serve the community, especially children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and minorities. Along with faculty from the UCLA Department of Pediatrics, the center has helped Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA to launch the Community Health and Advocacy Training Program in Pediatrics (CHAT). Dr. Alice Kuo, director of the CHAT program and a researcher at the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, found in a recent national study that parents whose child health providers discussed reading at a well-child visit were almost twice as likely to read every day with their young child.
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