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Cited by 25Child and Adolescent HealthReading and Literacy DevelopmentLiteracy and Educational Practices

Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice: Policy Statement

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Klass, Perri, Miller-Fitzwater, Anna, High, Pamela C., COUNCIL ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, Anderson, Ashaunta T., Dunlap, Marny, Hutton, John S., Mendelsohn, Alan L. +26 more·2024·Pediatrics
DOI 10.1542/peds.2024-069090
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Abstract

Reading together often with infants and young children strengthens their relationships with parents and caregivers at a critical time in child development, stimulating brain circuitry and early attachment. A positive parenting practice, shared reading helps build the foundation for healthy social-emotional, cognitive, language, and literacy development, setting the stage for school readiness and providing enduring benefits across the life course. Pediatric physicians and advanced care providers have a unique opportunity to encourage parents and caregivers to establish routines and enjoy conversations around books and stories with their children beginning in infancy. Research has demonstrated that parents read and children learn when pediatricians offer literacy promotion as a practical and evidence-based primary prevention strategy in primary care practice to support early brain and child development. This supports families with a strengths-based approach, shaping a child’s life trajectory and helping mitigate stress and adverse experiences. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that pediatricians encourage shared reading, beginning at birth and continuing at least through kindergarten, as a strategy for supporting parents and caregivers, enhancing foundational relationships, promoting positive language-rich interactions, and helping families create nurturing and stimulating home environments. The integration of literacy promotion into pediatric resident education is crucial to achieve that goal and thus is also essential. The AAP supports advocacy toward establishing public and private funding for diverse high-quality, developmentally appropriate children’s books in the languages preferred by the family to be provided at pediatric health supervision visits to all children but especially to children living in underresourced communities. This statement is supported by multiple AAP policies and implementation resources, including the accompanying “Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice: Technical Report.”

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  • Research has also examined how digital media interacts with caregiver-child relationships and behaviors, termed early relational health.

    “In addition to quantity and quality, research has also focused on the interplay between digital media and caregiver-child relationships and behaviors (“early relational health”).32,65,66”

    From Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Technical Report (2026) · cites this paper as [65]

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. [39]39. Payne AC, Whitehurst GJ, Angell AL. The role of literacy environ- ment in the language development of children from low-income families. Early Child Res Q. 1994;9(3-4):427-440
  2. [54]54. Yin HS, Mendelsohn AL, Wolf MS, et al. Parents' medication ad- ministration errors: role of dosing instruments and health liter- acy. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164(2):181-186
  3. [67]67. Mendelsohn AL, Dreyer BP, Flynn V, et al. Use of videotaped interactions during pediatric well-child care to promote child development: an RCT. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2005; 26(1):34-41
  4. [69]69. Mendelsohn AL, Dreyer BP, Brockmeyer CA, Berkule-Silberman SB, Huberman HS, Tomopoulos S. An RCT of primary care pediat- ric parenting programs: impacts on reduced media exposure in infants, mediated through enhanced parent-child interaction. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2011;165(1):42-48
  5. [71]71. Canfield C, Weisleder A, Cates CB, et al. Primary care parent- ing intervention effects on use of corporal punishment among low-income parents of toddlers: VIP 0-3 impacts on reduced physical punishment. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2015;36(8): 586-593

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Authors
Klass, P., Miller-Fitzwater, A., High, P. C., COUNCIL ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, Anderson, A. T., Dunlap, M., Hutton, J. S., Mendelsohn, A. L., Navsaria, D., Anyigbo, C. U., Burghardt, L., Glusman, M., Guevara, J. P., Hashikawa, A. N., Loria, H. M., Miller-Fitzwater, A., Nelson, B. B., Garro, N., Gomez, M., Lieser, D. J., Parlakian, R., Clark, K., Smiley, S., Sells, J., Alderman, S., Bauer, N., Peacock, G., Shriver, A., Takagishi, J., Vanderbilt, D., Garagozlo, K., Gadhia, A., Lee, M., & Recio, L.
Affiliations
  • New York University (US)
  • Brown University (US)
Corresponding author
Klass, Perri
ORCID
Venue
Pediatrics
Publisher
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Published
2024-11-25
Volume
154
Issue
6
ISSN
  • 0031-4005 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-4275
DOI
10.1542/peds.2024-069090
OpenAlex
W4402961958
Cited by
25
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 1 · 2017: 1
FWCI
13.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PEDIATRICS (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Child and Adolescent Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
  • Social Sciences › Education › Literacy and Educational Practices
Keywords
literacy promotion, shared reading, early literacy, parent-child reading, early childhood development, school readiness, pediatric primary care, primary prevention, children's literature, home learning environment
MeSH terms
Literacy, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Humans, Infant, Pediatrics, Primary Health Care, Reading

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