Author: Mechanical Dolphin

>Staying with our transatlantic theme after our feature on San Francisco’s Reading Partners, this week finds Books and Adventures in New York to find out more about the Reach Out and Read (ROR) programme at the New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Centre.

ROR is a national literacy and healthcare programme which operates across the USA. Under the scheme, volunteers read stories to children in clinic waiting rooms, paediatricians advise carers on the importance of reading aloud, and children visiting their doctor from the ages of six months to five years receive a new book to take home at every check-up.

Paediatricians and educators working together founded the programme in Boston in 1989; in 1997, Reach Out and Read came to New York Presbyterian Columbia Medical Centre, serving families in largely Spanish-speaking areas of Northern Manhattan.

Over 13 years the programme has grown from a single site in Washington Heights to cover five clinics, serving more than 10,000 children and distributing nearly 20,000 books per year.

Volunteers commit at least six months a year to engaging children in literacy activities and demonstrating to carers that sharing books with a child helps them to bond and communicate with adults. Volunteers’ interactions in the waiting room can inspire parents and carers to support their children’s literacy at home.

Paediatricians and hospital administrators have shown equal dedication to the programme, reflecting their belief that exposing young children to high quality, age-appropriate literature will not only encourage a passion for books, but also have a positive impact on growth and development.

‘Paediatricians do not merely give books to their patients as lollypops at the end of a well-child visit,’ says Emelin Martinez, Literacy Co-ordinator at New York Presbyterian. ‘They provide parents with advice and strategies they can use to enhance their child’s social, cognitive and motor skills development in using books that are developmentally appropriate.’

ROR as a programme takes a long-term view of literacy support: as part of care visits throughout early childhood, doctors see the same children two to four times a year.

‘Advice from each encounter builds on the last encounter and at the end of the five years, each child has a library of 12-14 high-quality, culturally, developmentally and linguistically appropriate books,’ explains Dr. Mary McCord, medical director of the programme. Many volunteers establish a bond with patients who attend multiple well-child visits. As the average wait in a clinic runs to two hours, volunteers have plenty of time to engage children with pleasurable and constructive reading sessions on each visit!

What really marks ROR out from other literacy programmes we’ve discussed on Books and Adventures is its pre-emptive approach. Where many schemes operate with a remedial focus, ROR aims to prevent literacy problems before they start. There is a focus on delivering anticipatory guidance to the carers of young children, promoting literacy and healthy development from as young as six months.

Emelin Martinez explains how this attention to literacy benefits a community’s health and well-being: ‘From a population perspective, poverty is the single most important determinant of health. Education has proven to be the only strategy to successfully move people out of poverty. Promoting literacy is one of the most important tasks that a paediatrician has with their patients early in life, to ensure that children can become healthy and successful adults.’

The ROR team at Presbyterian are proud of the positive impact their programme has had on families in Northern Manhattan. Caregivers have reported that watching their children’s interaction with volunteers has inspired them to implement the strategies seen in the clinic when they get home.

Emelin Martinez says, ‘On many occasions, I’ve witnessed parents reading to their children in the waiting rooms of our clinics, which demonstrates that parents’ behaviour regarding early literacy is changing. For some families, ROR books are the first books they have in the home. For others, parental illiteracy emerges as a problem when giving out these books and encourages caregivers to attend literacy programmes themselves. For paediatricians, it is touching to see how children ask for the books as soon as they come in, changing a long standing tradition of having stickers or candy be the reward for a medical visit.’

Huge thanks to Emelin Martinez and Dr. Mary McCord for joining Books and Adventures to discuss a programme which reflects such a positive and progressive approach to literacy and well-being. You can find out more at http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/residency/peds/new_compeds_site/programs_ror.html

>Today Books and Adventures features the Young People’s Writing Squads, an exciting scheme run by Academi, the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors.



The squads give gifted young writers in both English and Welsh the opportunity to work with professional writers to develop their talents.


“The idea of the Young People’s Writing Squads is inspired by county sports squads, where talented young footballers or rugby players are pooled together to give them the opportunity for specialised training,” says Elena Schmitz, Academi’s Schemes and Data Manager.


“Similar to these sports squads, the Writing Squads are intended for children who show particular ability and promise for creative writing. This does not mean that they have to get good grades in school, be particularly good at English or be able to spell exceptionally well – but they do need to be able to demonstrate an above average ability for being able to write creatively – they need to be good at inventing characters, stories or using language in an unusual way, for instance.


“The Squads are not only for the gifted and talented performers in school, but for those with an unusual talent and passion for creative writing. “


The scheme has been running since 1996. Today, over 40 squads operate across Wales. Squads of around 15-20 schoolchildren meet four to six times a year for special training sessions. Squad members are encouraged to remain a member of a Writing Squad for the length of their school career.


Together, each squad gets the opportunity to experience and develop different styles, genres and techniques with a variety of writers.


“The children usually come together for a half day and work with one or two professional writers on a specific topic,” Elena explains. “This can include short story writing, science fiction, script writing or poetry. Some Squads tackle more unusual themes, such as writing for magazines, graphic novels or journalism. Often, the children are asked to prepare a piece of writing in advance which they can develop and improve during the session.”


Many squads have a ‘usual’ local venue where they meet. This is often a library, arts centre or council-owned venue. Occasionally, Squads meet in a school, although this is the exception. Academi is keen for Squad activities to take place outside schools and outside school hours, to ensure participation is voluntary and not seen as a school activity.


“In some cases, Squad sessions take place in unusual locations,” says Elena. “They can involve trips to a gallery, train journeys (poetry on a train), museum visits or even residential excursions to an island (the Cardiff Squad regularly visits Flat Holm Island in the autumn). The children are then usually asked to react to their environment and write about the art they have seen in a gallery, for instance.”


Examples of work from a trip to Cardiff National Museum by the Bridgend Writing Squad can be found here.


Academi was awarded a Beacon Company Award by the Arts Council of Wales in October 2008. This allowed Academi to develop the Writing Squad movement, establishing new Squads where no provision had previously existed, as well as creating a new website and running a number of conferences, workshops and special events all over Wales. Funding from the award came to an end in March of this year. Elena expresses disappointment that the additional funding will not be continued beyond 2010:

“A lot of the additional Squad activities which took place over the last 18 months will not be possible due to the lack of funding. We have pointed out to the Arts Council of Wales that timing for stopping the extra funding could not be worse: just when additional Squads have been established after a lot of hard work, money runs out to maintain them. And this at a time of the worst recession in decades, when local authorities – who share the costs for running Squad workshops with Academi – are faced with budget cuts on an unprecedented level.

“Nonetheless, Academi is committed to the Squads movement and we will try to do as much as we can to support them. We will continue to invite Squad members to special events, such as the National Eisteddfod or Hay Festival and provide funding for Squad workshops on an ongoing basis from our Writers on Tour funding scheme.”


The Writing Squad scheme remains ambitious for the future, despite these challenges. Plans to establish new Writing Squads in languages other than Welsh and English proved more difficult than first anticipated, so Academi has focussed on increasing provision, events and opportunities for these communities.


“We hope that by providing more events in languages other than Welsh and English and by engaging more closely with the Urdu and Somali communities in particular, we will be able to create more interest in creative writing amongst parents and will in future be able to establish new Writing Squads in Somali and Urdu, for instance,” says Elena.

One example of this community engagement is the joint Urdu-Welsh poetry reading organized by Academi and Swansea University at this year’s National Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale.


Academi continues to welcome new Squads, particularly in areas where no Squads have yet been established, such as Anglesey or Rhondda Cynon Taf, as well as those areas where only limited provision exists.

“If teachers are interested, we’d recommend they contact the existing Squad Organiser in their area to start with, to see how their school can get involved,” says Elena. Details for the Squad Organisers in each area can be found at www.writingsquads.org/new-squads/, and if no Squad currently exists in your area, local teachers and librarians can contact Academi at http://www.writingsquads.org/contact/ to see how a new Squad can be established.


Our thanks to Elena Schmitz at Academi for speaking to Books and Adventures about this exciting scheme. You can check out the Squads’ site at http://www.writingsquads.org/

Next on Books and Adventures: carnivals, South America….and another visit Down Under!