We need to nurture language and literacy success from 3 months (or earlier) rather than grade 3.
Published Online: January 20, 2015
Published in Print: January 21, 2015, as Doctors Enlisted in Early-Literacy Campaign
Doctors Enlisted to Deliver Early-Literacy Message
Palmira Miller holds her daughter, Isabelle, at a wellness checkup with nurse Tesfa Gemechu at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, Calif. They are accompanied by Isabelle’s half-sister, Mayah, 3. A project at the hospital promotes the value of reading, talking, and singing to young children.
—Ramin Rahimian for Education Week
Too Small To Fail
Published Online: January 20, 2015
Published in Print: January 21, 2015, as Doctors Enlisted in Early-Literacy Campaign
Doctors Enlisted to Deliver Early-Literacy Message
By Lillian Mongeau
A Brief Excerpt
“Doctors are the newest group of proselytizers to join the national Too Small to Fail campaign encouraging parents to talk, read, and sing to their infants and toddlers as a key precursor to literacy. (Bold mine)
The American Academy of Pediatrics has long recognized the importance of telling parents to talk to and read with their children. But it has only recently begun advising its doctors to deliver that message for the first time at a child’s two-month checkup. What has been less clear, and never studied systematically, is how to deliver that information in a way that sticks during the 12- to 18-minute visits physicians generally have with families for well-baby checkups.
That’s where Too Small to Fail comes in. Working closely with doctors in Oakland, Calif., and Tulsa, Okla., leaders of the nonprofit effort hope to prove that medical professionals can provide parents with the tools and information they need to improve their child’s vocabulary and early-literacy skills. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, will be tracking the results of the program, which is rolling out at two hospitals in Oakland right now.”
Dialogue About Language, Literacy and Learning 