About Reach Out and Read in the Military

Reach Out and Read in the Military: An initiative to help military families

With the many sacrifices they make for our country, members of our Armed Forces and their families deserve quality healthcare and proven school readiness strategies for their children. Reach Out and Read presents a unique opportunity to support and strengthen military families with young children within the framework of the existing military healthcare system.

• Reading aloud to children is a proven technique in helping to cope with stress and anxiety.
• ROR helps parents build routines which reassure children and develop coping skills and knowledge that are essential for families tested by separation and deployment.

Early language development is recognized as essential for the healthy development of young children, and ROR is the gold standard for promoting this development through a health care setting. More than a decade of peer-reviewed, published research shows ROR to be a highly effective school readiness strategy.

Currently 32 military bases worldwide have Reach Out and Read programs. That adds up to approximately 90,000 children of military families who participate in ROR annually (approximately 25% of children of military families eligible worldwide). Currently ROR programs are located at:

Ft. Jackson (Moncrief AMC), SC
Fairchild AFB, WA
Keesler AFB, MS
121 Combat Support Hospital, S. Korea
Dyess AFB, TX
Scott AFB, IL
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA
Naval Medical Center San Diego, CA
Heidelberg, Germany
Naval Health Clinic Great Lakes, IL
Ft. Lewis(Madigan AMC), WA
Hill AFB, UT
Lackland and Brooks AFB(San Antonio Military Medical Center), TX
Fort Knox, KY
Eglin AFB, FL
Wright Patterson AFB, OH
Fort Stewart, GA
Travis AFB, CA
Ft. Bliss, TX
Camp Pendleton, CA
Nellis AFB, NV
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, DC
Camp Lejeune, NC
Fort Bragg, NC
Elmendorf AFB, AK
Naval Health Clinic New England, RI
Jacksonville NAS, FL
Tripler Army Medical Center Honolulu HI
Ft. Hood, TX
Goodfellow AFB, TX
Bremerton NS, WA

The military health care system provides full and systematic primary care for the children of military families. ROR has the potential to reach all these children, without building additional infrastructure, through a system parents already know. ROR’s goal is to make pediatric early literacy a standard part of care for military families.

Coalition Announcements

All military sites receive the Sesame Street "Talk, Listen, Connect" kits. The kits include:

- 2 DVD's (Deployments/Homecomings and Changes)
- A Magazine
- A Children's Activity Poster
- 10 fliers for the product

We hope you will be able to use this tool in your waiting room. You can view the product at: Sesame Workshop

You can bulk order up to 20 kits at a time at:
Military OneSource

Military families can order this product on MilitaryOneSource for FREE!!

ROR National Center partners with with ZERO TO THREE to provide resources to military providers and families. ROR will soon be distributing the ZERO TO THREE books "Over There" and "Coming Home" to all 32 military sites. In the future, we hope to be able to offer these books to all ROR sites as we work to expand our support to National Guard and Reserves families.

You can see the books at:
Zero to Three

Below are documents you might find useful:

Military One Pager

Guidance for Military Site Visits

Military Parent Survey

Click here to access the online survey:
Click Here to take survey

Advisory Board Members

ROR Military Advisory Board Membership 2009-2010:

Katie Alexander
Program Development Consultant
Ivymount School

Joan Patterman Barrett
Program Manager: Contracts, Grants, Related Projects
Military Child Education Coalition

Patricia Montes Barron
Director Youth Initiatives Department

Lee Beers, MD
Director, Healthy Generations Program
Children's National Medical Center

CAPT. Gregory Blaschke, MD, USN
Department of Pediatrics
Naval Medical Center, San Diego

LtCol. Molinda Chartrand, MD, USAF
Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician
Educational and Developmental Intervention Services
Spangdahlem AB, Germany

Maj. Eric M. Flake, MD, USAF
Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics
Keesler AFB, Mississippi

Lynette Fraga
Director, Military Projects
ZERO TO THREE

COL Elisabeth Stafford, MD, USA
Department of Pediatrics
Brooke Army Medical Center
Fort Sam Houston, TX

Lil Ingram, author and National Guard/Reserve advocate
Spouse of Adjutant General, North Carolina National Guard
Williamston, 27892

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