United Way of Greater Cincinnati - LIVE UNITED

Success By 6® Shared Reading Initiative

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What is Shared Reading and how does it help children prepare to succeed?

Research shows that shared reading can result in substantial changes in preschool children’s language skills. Shared reading gives parents and other caregivers the training they need to encourage language development. Adults simply alter the way they typically read to children. Through a shift in reading roles, the child becomes the storyteller. Success By 6® collaborates with agencies to provide training to parents, child care center staff and other caregivers. By empowering families through education, the initiative promotes shared reading as a community standard for developing early literacy skills and positive relationships between children and adults in homes, child care settings, pediatricians’ offices, libraries, and other places where children gather.

Background: Using books and research-based language facilitation strategies, parents help children build upon what they’re already able to do, a process known as scaffolding. The strategy incorporates three simple steps during reading: comment and wait; ask questions and wait; respond by adding a little more. As the child becomes the storyteller, adults are challenged to patiently provide supportive comments and leading questions in response to the child’s attempts to retell the story or expand upon it in his or her own words. 

Developmental Milestones Targeted: Shared Reading addresses social, emotional and cognitive milestones from birth to age 6. The primary focus, emergent literacy, directly impacts cognitive development. The dialogic process encourages more intimate interaction than traditional reading methods and, thus, promotes secure attachment with parents and caregivers.

Stakeholders Targeted: There is a role in the Shared Reading Initiative for each of the five stakeholder groups. Child care providers, other agency staff, volunteers and librarians, will be recruited for training in the dialogic method. Once trained, the providers, staff, librarians, and volunteers will teach parents to use the method at home. Health care providers will participate by bringing “Reach Out and Read” into their waiting rooms using trained volunteer readers. Neighborhood and community organizations will provide volunteers, space for training, promotion and support. Funders and policy makers will promote the initiative and support it financially.