Promoting literacy among children continues to be an initiative of Washington Pediatrics, having volunteers read to children in the waiting room through its Reach Out and Read program.

According to a letter from Dr. Debbie Ainsworth, the program has two separate components. The first gives new, developmentally appropriate books to children, ages 6 months to 5 years old during their well-child check-ups. Doctors and staff are trained to discuss the importance of literacy on early childhood development and to emphasize with parents the need to read aloud as a fun activity with their children to ensure future success. This instills an appreciation of reading to their child and the ultimate effect it will have on their future development. The second component of the program involves placing volunteers who read to the children in the waiting room of a practice. They read aloud to the child, modeling the correct way to read aloud for the parent. This also promotes enjoyment of reading in a child. Volunteers also maintain a child’s attention, decreasing the amount of chaos present in the waiting room.

Washington Pediatrics distributes over 3,000 books annually. Its service area extends to eight counties, in which they are the major pediatric provider in five of those counties.

“We are revamping the program and trying to make it everything it was meant to be,” said Sara Cutler, nurse and ROAR coordinator at Washington Pediatrics who took over the program in October. “It is something that there’s not really ever necessarily enough time and resources to be able to do. Essentially, it’s a program that is supposed to, not only, give books to children, but also assist with parents as far as teaching them how to read to their children.

“We are actually trying to recruit volunteers,” Cutler said. “A lot of people don’t realize that they can come hear and volunteer.”

According to Cutler, volunteers of all ages, backgrounds and experiences read to children in the waiting room. Their volunteers are high school students, retired teachers, college education majors, book club members and caring citizens. The ROAR program needs: monetary donations, enabling the purchase of new books; new and used book donations to distribute books to children, older siblings and underprivileged families; and enthusiastic volunteers, demonstrating to parents that reading aloud with their children is fun for both.

To help ROAR at Washington Pediatrics, please contact the Reach Out and Read Coordinator by phone at 252-946-4134.