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• Posted September 30, 2024

America's Pediatricians Want You to Read a Book With Your Child

Read to your little ones.

That's the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) prescription for fostering loving, nurturing relationships during early infancy and early childhood -- a time of critical brain development.

"Reading together with young children weaves joyful language and rich interactive moments into the fabric of daily life," said Dr. Perri Klass, a professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University who is lead author of two updated policy statements from the AAP on literacy. 

"As a pediatrician and parent, I suggest making books your bedtime routine, using them to connect and wind down after a busy day, and generally building them into life with a young child," she added in an AAP news release. "It will strengthen the bonds that you hold together, and build your child's developing brain."

The new policy statement -- published Sept. 29 in the journal Pediatrics -- is the first update to AAP recommendations since 2014, and it dovetails with a wave of research into early childhood brain development. 

It was scheduled for discussion Sunday at the AAP's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., led by Klass and Claudia Aristy, a national board member of the organization Reach Out and Read, which promotes reading to children from birth.

The pediatricians' group says shared reading sets the stage for school readiness and provides lifelong benefits. It helps build the foundation for healthy social-emotional, cognitive, language and literacy development.

"Turning the pages of a high-quality, print book filled with colorful pictures and rich, expressive language are best," said study co-author Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

"While touchscreens and other electronic devices may be popular, they are typically passive or solitary experiences for children and do not offer the same benefits of interactivity and relationship-building," he added.

The new AAP statement recommends that pediatricians take several steps to help promote reading. They include promoting shared reading beginning at birth and continuing through at least kindergarten and emphasizing the value of books representing diverse cultures, characters and themes.

"Research tells us that reading proficiency by third grade is a significant predictor of high school graduation and career success," Klass said. "Children who first encounter books in the arms of their parents, when they are very young, arrive at school associating books and reading with lap-time, a sense of security, interactions, stories, rhymes and entertainment, and above all with the beloved voices of the adults with whom they have those all-important early relationships."

More information

There's more about the benefits of reading with your child at Reading Rockets.

SOURCE: American Academy of Pediatrics, news release,  Sept. 29, 2024