WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
Did you know that when you read to your child, even as an infant, you are essentially building their brain? There is a common misconception that just because an infant can’t talk or doesn’t react much while being read to, they’re not able to get anything from a book. However, this could not be further from the truth. You might feel hesitant or even awkward reading to your newborn, but you’re creating sensory information in their brain.
They use sight to look at the pictures, touch as they feel or grab at the book, and hear unique and varied vocabulary that isn’t necessarily part of their everyday vocabulary. As the baby gets older, it also helps them learn to coordinate their eyesight with the movement of their hands as they turn the pages.
All these wonderful benefits are the reasons why the ELC’s latest program, Newborn to Read, was created. The desire was to share with parents how important it is to read to a baby while also creating the foundation for kindergarten readiness. Dr. Audrey Davis, a neonatologist at Manatee Memorial and Lakewood Ranch hospitals, reached out to the ELC looking to develop a program that would help dispel the misconceptions about reading to a baby and highlight the benefits.
“It was really this natural idea development where, if we could create the resources, then Dr. Davis would have the audience to share them with. We have the materials at the ELC, and she has the new parents with her,” explained Rachel Spivey, Director of Grant Management at the ELC and one of the creators of Newborn to Read.
Rachel and Kelly Beavers, Director of Community Educational Initiatives, met with the staff at Manatee Memorial to have a conference brainstorming session. They also came up with the design idea to make the resource flyer look like a prescription pad as a play on Dr. Davis’ field. It’s evident that the ELC cares about reading, as seen from the multitude of literacy and healthy child initiatives. However, Dr. Davis’ endorsement helps emphasize why reading to your baby daily is essential. It gets the message across clearly due to her depth of knowledge in child development.
What Newborn to Read does is offer a care package to every family of a baby born at both Manatee Memorial and Lakewood Ranch hospitals. The package contains a book from the Florida Division of Early Learning, titled First Teacher: A Parent’s Guide to Growing and Learning, an infant-friendly child’s book from the ELC, other learning resources, and the prescription to read from Dr. Davis and the ELC. The “prescription” itself has information about the benefits of reading. On the back is other information for parents about resources they can continue to utilize as their child grows. Inside every book is the ELC’s logoed sticker with more tips about reading and a QR code for families to fill out a survey on how they feel about receiving the books and resources as well as what they’re going to do with them.
The Rotary Club of Bradenton generously donated a $2000 grant that the ELC currently has to support Newborn to Read. The funding will allow the ELC to give out 1,000 of these care packages to the families of newborns.
Rachel added: ” Our hope for the future of this program is that we can continue it by connecting with other funders.”
- If you are interested in donating to Newborn to Read to help continue the initiative, please contact Rachel Spivey at rspivey@elc-manatee.org or visit https://www.elc-manatee.org/Donate.
