ACQ Vol 11 no 2 2009

Fischel, 2008). Similarly, the quality of a child’s surrounding environment, in particular the home environment, is also found to be an important determinant of literacy development (Hood, Conlon, & Andrews, 2008; Melhuish et al., 2008; Weigel, Martin, & Bennett, 2006). Home environmental factors such as access to literacy-related materials (e.g., books, alphabet materials, crayons and paper), use of the local library, parental modelling of reading behaviours and language rich environments (DEST, 2005) are all important influences on children’s literacy success. In addition, parental activities such as regular shared reading with developmentally appropriate books, use of specific reading styles such as dialogic reading, singing nursery rhymes and other songs, and playing interactive games like Eyespy have all been shown to be important (Butzlaff, 2000; Fielding-Barnsley & Purdie, 2002; Huebner, 2000). The results from this research has lead to an increasing number of literacy promotion programs across the world, such as Reach out and Read and BookStart, aimed at enhancing children’s emergent literacy skills and improved literacy outcomes for children (Baker et al., 1999; High, LaGasse, Becker, Ahlgren, & Gardner, 2000; Wade & Moore, 1998). Although there have been limited rigorous trials of such literacy promotion programs, reported results have demonstrated some expressive language benefits through clinic-based literacy promotion programs (High et al., 2000; Mendelsohn et al., 2001) or an increase in home-based literacy activities (National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature, 2001; Weitzman, Roy, Walls, & Tomlin, 2004). The Let’s Read initiative Let’s Read is an initiative that promotes shared reading with young children 0–5 years of age and has been developed by the Centre for Community Child Health (a key research centre of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute) in partnership with The Smith Family. Let’s Read was designed after an extensive literature review, in consultation with Reach out and Read in the USA and after pilot testing. It specifically takes into account the importance of linking community interest and enthusiasm around reading to children with a well-structured intervention built around factors within the family home that have been found to influence children’s literacy development. The Let’s Read initiative includes the following core components: • written and audio-visual materials which promote language and literacy practices/activities between young children and their parents or caregivers; • provision of, or access to age-appropriate (free) books; • training of professionals to convey guidance messages and to model shared reading practices to parents. Content and design of the initiative were overseen by a steering committee, comprising paediatricians, psychologists, parenting experts, and maternal and child health nurses. In recognition of the differing stimulation required at various developmental stages, a multi-point model was adopted with guidance materials targeting four specific ages and planned around common visits (4-months, 12-months, 18-months and 3½ years of age) to maternal or child and family nurses available in most states and territories in Australia. At each of the four specified Let’s Read visits, parents receive age-appropriate guidance messages, an age- appropriate booklist, a DVD reiterating the guidance messages and a free age-appropriate book from a community professional. Professionals are also encouraged

to model a number of age-appropriate reading aloud strategies for parents so as to provide parents with some practical ideas of how to read with their child and to use the materials as a prompt for discussion. There are currently two phases of Let’s Read underway: 1) the community implementation of the initiative across Australia, and 2) a cluster randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the initiative. Community implementation The implementation of Let’s Read into communities commenced in August 2005. The first community to launch Let’s Read was Corio in Geelong, Victoria. To date there are approximately 98 communities delivering Let’s Read across Australia. A community development approach is taken to promote the importance of literacy through existing services and systems to reach as many families as possible and to

sustain the program in the long term. Community-based professionals are trained and resourced to work on a one-to-one basis with families to promote the importance of reading with young children. Current work in Let’s Read has focused on developing a program that is also adaptable to indigenous and multicultural communities. Cluster randomised controlled trial The Let’s Read trial (funded by the Australian Research Council) was initiated

to determine whether a population-level literacy promotion program aimed at very young children can improve their emergent literacy outcomes. The cluster randomised controlled trial, which started in 2006, is being delivered through maternal and child health nurses in five local government areas in Victoria (Darebin, Frankston, Hobson’s Bay, Dandenong and Moreland) and will follow a cohort of 600 children from birth to school commencement. Final results are anticipated in 2011. This will be the first population-based randomised trial to demonstrate how the key messages and corresponding activities of an early literacy promotion program can influence the acquisition and development of emergent literacy. The Let’s Read trial will also provide new information about children’s literacy and language acquisition and their relationship to the home and family literacy environments, contributing to the further advancement of future literacy promotion programs. Conclusion It is anticipated that the results from the Let’s Read research projects will add to the growing knowledge base concerning the effectiveness of early literacy promotion programs as a means to address illiteracy. These results should help guide future policy and investment. Acknowledgement The trial researchers are from the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Centre for Community Child Health, Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics Unit and from the Speech Pathology Department of the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. This trial has been funded by the Australian Research Council.

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