International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics | October-December 2015 | Vol 2 | Issue 4 Page 345 International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics Srivastava G et al. Int J Contemp Pediatr. 2015 Nov;2(4):345-348 http://www.ijpediatrics.com pISSN 2349-3283 | eISSN 2349-3291 Research Article Impact of a clinic based literacy intervention Reach Out and Read (ROR) modelled program on preschool children in India Geetika Srivastava 1 , Shrish Bhatnagar 1 *, Hammad Khan 1 , Savitri Thakur 1 , Kabeer A. Khan 1 , Brig T. Prabhakar 2 INTRODUCTION The Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a literacy promotion model innovated by Pediatricians Barry Zuckerman and Robert Needlman in 1989. The mission of ROR is to unite literacy promotion with pediatric primary care, so that children who come to clinics would grow up with books and develop a love for reading. ROR works with a three-component system, involving Pediatricians to promote early literacy skills in children from age six months to five years. The program has been running successfully all over the United States with more than four million children benefited from it. 1 It is officially endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. 2 The aim of our study was to establish the feasibility and applicability of ROR modeled program in Indian scenario. METHODS It was an eighteen months prospective randomised case control study implemented between August 2012 and ABSTRACT Background: Pediatricians play an important role in linking literacy with primary health care services. The aim of the study was to establish the feasibility and applicability of “Reach out and Read (ROR) - a clinic based literacy programs” in Indian scenario. Methods: Prospective randomized case control study in the well-baby clinic of a tertiary care hospital. Parent- child duos (9 months to 5 years) were exposed to literacy interventions at the time of their routine visit to the pediatrician. The change in reading behavior of the parent child duo was compared to age matched controls over a period of 18 months. Parent- child duos (9 months to 5 years) were exposed to literacy interventions at the time of their routine visit to the pediatrician. The change in reading behavior of the parent child duo was compared to age matched controls over a period of 18 months. Results: There was significant improvement in the reading behaviour of the parents and children exposed to literacy intervention as compared to the control group (p<0.05). Conclusions: ROR modelled programs if incorporated in the routine health visits would promote literacy and school readiness in our children. Keywords: Reach out and Read (ROR), Literacy programs, Pediatricians 1 Department of Pediatrics, ELMCH, Lucknow 2 Department of Anaesthesia, ELMCH, Lucknow Received: 21 July 2015 Accepted: 20 August 2015 *Correspondence: Dr. Shrish Bhatnagar, E-mail: drshrishbhatnagar@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-3291.ijcp20150971