Child Health Advocacy and Safety

Child Literacy

Two kids reading, enjoying the splendor of the grassAmerican Family Children's Hospital is a strong advocate of childhood literacy. As such, the Children's Hospital's Safety and Child Health Advocacy program is proud to promote the Pediatric Early Literacy Project.

What is the Pediatric Early Literacy Project?

The Pediatric Early Literacy Projects aims to make accessibility to books and the promotion of reading a routine part of health care.

UW Health pediatrician Dipesh Navsaria has spearheaded Reach Out and Read at American Family Children's Hospital.
While there are many worthy organizations that promote literacy, we feel that this skill is so critical to the futures of children and the overall health of society that it warrants side-by-side placement with other health and safety advice.

Programs

  • Reach Out and Read: Reach Out and Read makes literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care, so that children grow up with books and a love of reading.
  • American Family Children's Hospital Inpatient Reading Library: Recognizing how critical reading is for kids, American Family Children's Hospital opened an inpatient reading library, filled with more than 600 books for newborns through age 18.

Child Literacy Facts

  • Almost half of all Wisconsin children under age five are not read to on a daily basis.
  • Early investment in children's reading fluency saves on costly reading recovery programs later on, when the probability of rehabilitating a child’s damaged self-confidence is much lower.
  • For a mere investment of $40, an entire "dose" of Reach Out and Read can be delivered to a single child for four and one-half years.