NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: Read Aloud Delaware

BY DANIEL LA MASTRA

Did you know that children who are read to, talked to, and sung to every day from birth will have heard thirty million more words by age three than children who grow up in less verbal environments?

This fact alone highlights the importance of reading and verbal communication in a young child’s life. The wealth of information that is to be discovered through reading is vast, and the positive impact that reading has on an individual’s brain and overall development is massive to say the least. However, the ability to read, write, and understand grammatically correct English has not always been commonplace in society. It can be taken for granted in our modern world.

Research shows that children who are read to from an early age have bigger brains, larger vocabularies, and are most likely to master fundamental language skills. Read Aloud Delaware recognizes that it is skills like these that are crucial to a child’s future.

“We fight childhood illiteracy by promoting reading and communication and encouraging caregivers and volunteers to incorporate that in every part of their life,” said James Spadola, executive director of Read Aloud Delaware.

Founded in 1983 by former Delaware State Representative Kevin Free, Read Aloud Delaware continuously works toward the goal to set children on the road to literacy success.

Read Aloud Delaware’s volunteer reading program is their most wellknown program, and their most popular. For this program to function, the nonprofit relies on volunteers who are willing to take the time to read to children around the state, mostly at child care centers. “Our volunteers are incredibly dedicated,” explained Spadola of his volunteers. “Many that have been with us for over 20 years, and many volunteers say they get more out of it than they put into it.”

Before the pandemic halted in-person reading events, Read Aloud Delaware boasted over 600 volunteers and more than 100 reading sites throughout Delaware. Fortunately, the nonprofit was able to conduct virtual reading sessions as well as introduce a new program called LENA Start.

LENA Start is a ten-week program that aims to track, stimulate, and improve the language environment in a household. It is separate from the volunteer reading program, but the central goal of improving language development remains the focal point. Interestingly, LENA Start incorporates wearable technology, dubbed a “talk pedometer,” that tracks the number of words spoken and conversational turns that occur in a dialog.

According to Spadola, “The science shows that it is important to be spoken to, especially in conversational terms.” Therefore, not only is reading beneficial to a child’s development, but simply speaking and engaging with children can have a lasting impact on their growth and understanding of language.

“One of the goals of LENA Start is to show parents how to create a running narrative of your life for your child. This could be as simple as next time you’re cooking, talking to your child and explaining to them how you’re using the silver knife to cut up the orange carrot into five pieces,” explained Spadola. “You might feel silly saying it, but that’s really so impactful for the child to hear that. It gets them thinking about colors, numbers, objects, and many other things.”

Parents reported that LENA Start has had a demonstrable improvement on their child’s language abilities. “My child really flourished with his language development and we developed better communication between us,” remarked one parent. “And another wonderful surprise was my son’s newly found love of reading to the point where he demands several books in a row.”

Read Aloud Delaware’s efforts within the community are foundational in the development of the next generation of people. In many ways, this is beneficial to all of us. Read Aloud Delaware and organizations like it have an overwhelmingly positive impact not only on today’s but also tomorrow’s society.