Reading proficiency by third grade is the most significant predictor of high school graduation and career success, yet two-thirds of U.S. third-graders lack competent reading skills. A new AAP policy statement recommends that pediatric providers advise parents of young children that reading aloud and talking about pictures and words in age-appropriate books can strengthen language skills, literacy development and parent-child relationships.

Literacy promotion during preventive visits has some of the strongest evidence-based support that it can make a difference in the lives of young children and families, said Pamela C. High, M.D., M.S., FAAP, lead author of Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2014-1384. The policy, released June 24, will be published in the August Pediatrics.

Promoting early literacy development in the pediatric primary care setting was a resolution at the 2008 AAP Annual Leadership Forum, leading to development of the policy statement. Dr. High is past chair of what now is the AAP Council on Early Childhood, which authored the policy.

Multiple benefits Children who are read to during infancy and preschool years have better language skills when they start school and are more interested in reading, according to research highlighted in the statement. In addition, parents who spend time reading to their children create nurturing relationships, which is important for a child’s cognitive, language and social-emotional development. “When I started with Reach Out and Read years ago, efforts were focused on early literacy and school readiness,” said Perri Klass, M.D., FAAP, national medical director of Reach Out and Read and contributing author to the policy statement. “Although those are still tremendously important, the bigger picture now is to help parents build interactions with their children into their everyday lives because this can create nurturing relationships, which promote early brain development, early literacy, language development and school readiness.”

Make it fun An important job for pediatric providers is to help parents understand what is developmentally appropriate for their child and how to make reading fun, Dr. Klass said. “A parent shouldn’t read a long story to an infant or young child and expect them to listen attentively.” Dr. Klass recommends parents point to and name pictures in books for infants and ask young children questions or have them complete rhymes from a short book. Parents need to understand that 2-year-olds have a short attention span, and infants may put books in their mouths because that is how they explore their world, she said. “We don’t want a parent to feel that their child is failing at reading if the child loses interest,” Dr. Klass added.