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Books in the Exam Room Choosing Books for Latino Children Think of the last time you were with a toddler. What kinds of things did you say? It probably was something like, "Come back! Don't put that in your mouth! No! Stop! Let's put your shoes on." On the other hand, when you read aloud, you use a much richer vocabulary; there is more give and take, and more "scaffolding," where the child says a word and you expand on it. For instance, the child says "Duck," and the parent says "That's right! It's a yellow duck! What does the duck say? Yes! It says, 'Quack! Quack!'" The reason that reading aloud stimulates language and cognitive development is because it encourages an enriched interaction between parents and their children. This interaction may come naturally to some parents, particularly those that have higher educational levels. However, for parents who may have difficulty reading or who were not read to as children, sharing a book can often be a more stilted, less interactive experience. The situation can become more complicated when you, as a medical provider, are interacting with a bilingual family. Providers working with Latino families often wonder if they should give the book in English, Spanish, or a bilingual book. In any language, the best books are those that invite that parent-child interaction. Books in Spanish that the parents can relate to and are culturally relevant are great for this. Some providers prefer bilingual books because the parents can also use them to learn some English. This is fine as long as the book is not used as a Spanish English dictionary - i.e., "apple-manzana, ball-pelota, etc." Even books in English can be good as long as the parent is encouraged to "share the book" and talk about the pictures in his/her own language. This is why anticipatory guidance and modeling reading in the exam room are so important; providing parents with the knowledge on how to share a book with a child-even without reading the words-makes each book valuable no matter the language. Another thing to remember when giving out bilingual books or books in Spanish is to make sure the translation is good. I have seen many poorly-translated books. Additionally, research on bilingual language learners shows that children learn best when the languages are kept separate. Experts recommend a one person-one language approach or suggest keeping the languages separate across situations (e.g. Spanish at home, English in school). If you are giving out bilingual books, make sure that the languages are not mixed within a sentence. While it is true that many families speak in "Spanglish, " this is not what children will experience as they go to school and learn to read, so it's not what we want to encourage as part of ROR. One of my favorite books to use in the exam room is "FIESTA!" by Ginger Foglesong Guy, the author of "SIESTA!", another book worth using. It is about three children getting ready for a party. They go to the market and pick up the supplies (one basket, two horns…), go home to make the piñata and decorate, and have a great time at the party. There are many reasons I love this book:
Medical Director, Reach Out and Read Illinois Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine The Leyendo Juntos (Reading Together) initiative is an effort to improve Reach Out and Read's outreach to the thousands of Latino families that we serve. As part of this initiative, we are compiling a list of recommended bilingual books and books in Spanish. If you have a favorite bilingual or Spanish book that you recommend, we would love to hear from you so we can include it on the list. Please send the title of your favorite book to books@reachoutandread.org If you would like to find out more about ROR's Leyendo Juntos Initiative, please contact Stacie Fredriksson at Stacie.Fredriksson@reachoutandread.org. |
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