Three ways to a healthy start.

• Author: Goodwin, Kristine
• Position: TRENDS

Gone are the days when kids came home from the pediatrician's office with only a wild pink Band-Aid as a badge of honor. In all 50 states, in more than 5,000 Reach Out and Read program sites, doctors' offices are handing out children's books to patients and their parents--and talking about the importance of early reading.

Reach Out and Read, a nonprofit organization of medical providers that promotes early literacy and school readiness, focuses mostly on low-income families, giving children 5 months to 5 years of age a new book to take home as part of their well-child visit. In its more than 25 years of existence. Reach Out and Read serves an estimated 4.2 million children annually and distributes more than 6 million books each year. Fourteen states currently invest state and federal funds to support local Reach Out and Read.

Another 23 states are duplicating a Connecticut program in which doctors and medical workers are on the alert for developmental and behavioral problems in children so they can direct their parents to community resources. "Help Me Grow" (HMG) connects at-risk children with existing early childhood health services, helping to control unnecessary health care costs. The program, started by a Connecticut physician and later funded by that state's legislature in 2002, includes four components:

* A call center to connect families to services and to give professionals--including child health care providers, child care providers and teachers--information, help and referrals for children:

* Outreach to pediatricians and other child health care providers to encourage them to conduct child developmental screenings and to use the call center;

* Community outreach to promote use of the program;

* Data collection by the call centers on caller demographics, how callers heard about the service, what help is needed and outcomes so the service can improve.

The initiative has connected thousands of...