Bridging the Word Gap by Linking Pediatric Health Care and Community Services

Pediatric health care can support low cost, population-level engagement of low income families to prevent disparities in school readiness. Promotion of reading aloud (Reach Out and Read) has had extensive study and dissemination; parent-child video-recording and review to enhance self-reflection (Video Interaction Project) increases impacts. We are studying a New York City Council program (City’s First Readers) linking health care with community/library programs to assess for synergies.