Reading, Singing or Storytelling - Children in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania Value:
63.1%
Percentage of children ages 0-5 whose family members read, sang or told stories to them every day during the past week (2-year estimate)
Pennsylvania Rank:
14
Reading, Singing or Storytelling - Children in depth:
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Reading, Singing or Storytelling - Children by State
Percentage of children ages 0-5 whose family members read, sang or told stories to them every day during the past week (2-year estimate)
Reading, Singing or Storytelling - Children in
Data from National Survey of Children's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), 2022-2023
>= 64.0%
61.9% - 63.9%
58.6% - 61.8%
55.8% - 58.5%
<= 55.7%
Reading, Singing or Storytelling - Children
- National Survey of Children's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), 2022-2023
About Reading, Singing or Storytelling - Children
US Value: 58.4%
Top State(s): Vermont: 73.6%
Bottom State(s): Mississippi: 46.5%
Definition: Percentage of children ages 0-5 whose family members read, sang or told stories to them every day during the past week (2-year estimate)
Data Source and Years(s): National Survey of Children's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), 2022-2023
Suggested Citation: America's Health Rankings analysis of National Survey of Children's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), United Health Foundation, AmericasHealthRankings.org, accessed 2024.
Reading aloud to children was described as the most important factor in developing literacy by the Commission on Reading’s 1985 landmark report Becoming a Nation of Readers. Further research has shown that regularly reading aloud to children stimulates patterns of brain development that strengthen language, literacy and social-emotional skills at a critical age.
Reading, singing and storytelling are beneficial for children in any language the speaker feels comfortable using. These activities make communication easy and fun while helping children learn about language structure. Research has also found that reading dual-language books to children improves their vocabulary in both languages.
Other language-rich experiences that benefit brain development and future school success include talking and singing to young children. Talking, reading and singing together also strengthen the responsive relationship between young children and adults, which is an important part of healthy brain development and builds resilience to stress and hardship.
According to data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, the percentage of children who are read to every day is higher among:
- Non-Hispanic white children compared with non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children. Similarly, a higher percentage of white children are sung to or told stories everyday compared with non-Hispanic Asian, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children.
- Households with higher incomes compared with households with lower incomes. The same trend is seen for daily singing and storytelling.
Some states have implemented evidence-based initiatives to encourage reading, singing and storytelling among parents. Early Head Start programs help parents and caregivers develop strong bonds with their children and meet early childhood development goals for language, literacy, cognition, motor skills and more. Other evidence-based programs include Raising a Reader and Reach Out and Read. These programs help parents establish interactive reading routines with their children, connect families to local libraries and provide children with books.
Healthy People 2030 has an objective to increase the proportion of children whose parents read to them at least four days a week.
Anderson, Richard Chase, Elfrieda H. Hebert, Judith A. Scott, and Ian A. G. Wilkinson. Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading. United States: National Academy of Education, 1985. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED253865.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. “3 Principles to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families: 2021 Update.” Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, April 2021. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/three-early-childhood-development-principles-improve-child-family-outcomes/.
Grøver, Vibeke, Veslemøy Rydland, Jan-Eric Gustafsson, and Catherine E. Snow. “Shared Book Reading in Preschool Supports Bilingual Children’s Second-Language Learning: A Cluster-Randomized Trial.” Child Development 91, no. 6 (November 2020): 2192–2210. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13348.
High, Pamela C., Perri Klass, Elaine Donoghue, Danette Glassy, Beth DelConte, Marian Earls, Dina Lieser, et al. “Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice.” Pediatrics 134, no. 2 (August 1, 2014): 404–9. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1384.
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