Within the framework of International Book Day, which is celebrated every April 23, Primary Care paediatricians have recalled the benefits of promoting reading aloud from the first years of life, not only from the point of view of learning, but also, they say, because it contributes to the comprehensive development of childhood, since reading to children from a very young age stimulates their brain, cognitive and emotional development. Reading shared by fathers, mothers and children is a type of communication that promotes human contact and the emotional relationship between them.
This is the conclusion of a review that has just been published by the Prevention Group in Childhood and Adolescence (PrevInfad) of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) and the Program of Preventive Activities and Health Promotion (PAPPS). “Reading aloud by parents from an early age, as an early cognitive and affective stimulus, has numerous benefits for childhood,” explains Dr. Ana Garach from the PrevInfad Group.
Among them, it favors language acquisition and has a direct impact on school performance. Likewise, it influences development “by giving the opportunity to listen, think, feel, ask,” and allows us to work on emotions. Achieving these benefits from reading is more feasible if it is done from a very early age, “even from the first days of life.”
Audiovisual products cannot replace reading
This reading aloud by the family, which, according to PrevInfad’s recommendation, “introduces children to the territory of the mother tongue in a slow and affectionate way,” cannot be replaced by audiovisual products. “A video on a screen or audio, even if it is adapted for the age of the boy or girl, does not replace a story read by the father or mother,” says Dr. Mengual.
AEPap encourages all Primary Care pediatricians to “include the advice of shared reading from the moment children are born, within the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits carried out in their consultation”
PrevInfad also indicates in the recommendation that “parental interventions on children during the first three years of life are effective in improving the results of their development during early childhood,” an effect that “is shown in all types of families, whatever the socioeconomic level.”
The recommendation of Primary Care pediatricians is based on evidence, because in recent decades various initiatives have been launched internationally aimed at promoting family reading. The first one included in the PrevInfad monograph is that of a group of pediatricians and nursing staff in 1989, who founded an organization at the Boston City Hospital in Massachusetts (USA) whose objective was to engage families with literacy. their children with actions such as reading aloud. With this strategy, developmental problems are prevented and early childhood learning is stimulated. In recent decades, various similar initiatives have emerged in Europe.
Benefits of reading for premature babies
In Spain there are also initiatives, from the clinical field, aimed at enhancing the benefits of reading for babies. One of them has been the Neonatology Service of the 12 de Octubre University Hospital in Madrid, which has included reading stories to premature babies to promote their child development in the ‘Cuídame’ program, which trains families in caring for their children while they remain hospitalized. This activity, according to those responsible, significantly favors brain development, especially in the area of language, in babies weighing less than 1,500 g.
The PrevInfad group concludes in its recommendation that “parental interventions on children during the first three years of life are effective in improving the results of their development in early childhood.” Currently, according to a survey carried out in 2023 among 326 paediatricians in Spain, Primary Care paediatricians are those who carry out the greatest promotion of reading (41.7% compared to 25% of hospital pediatricians and 7.7% of residents).
However, there are important differences between professionals. Given the observed benefits, AEPap encourages all Primary Care pediatricians to “include the advice of shared reading from the moment children are born, within the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits carried out in their consultation.”
Source: Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap)
