Early literacy is one of the strongest predictors of lifelong health and success – yet reading scores across the U.S. are falling at an alarming rate.
In part two of our series on early literacy and health, we highlight Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart!, a proven, science-based program celebrating 20 years of impact.
Reading BrightStart! supports children from birth through first grade with early literacy curricula, educator training, and family resources – helping more young learners become confident readers and setting a foundation for lifelong health.
Resources:
Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart! Family Resources
Harris Poll Executive Summary
Full Harris Poll Results
Guests:
Rebeca Grysko, PhD, CBIS, Special Education Teacher and School Liaison, Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida
Jamie Williams, MEd, Manager, Intellectual Property and Curriculum Design, Nemours Children’s Health
Dawn Espinoza, MEd, Educational Support Supervisor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida
Samantha Taylor, Quality Performance Specialist, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida
Host/Producer: Carol Vassar
TRANSCRIPT
Announcer:
Welcome to Well Beyond Medicine, the world’s top-ranked children’s health podcast produced by Nemours Children’s Health. Subscribe on any platform at nemourswellbeyond.org or find us on YouTube.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Each week we’ll be joined by innovators and experts from around the world, exploring anything and everything related to the 85% of child health impacts that occur outside the doctor’s office. I’m your host, Carol Vassar, and now that you are here, let’s go.
Music:
Let’s go, oh, oh.
Well beyond medicine.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
In our last episode, we examined the urgent state of early literacy in the U.S., how reading skills are closely tied to long-term health, and how declining scores and limited classroom resources are creating real barriers to childhood literacy success and overall health. In this episode, we shift from problems to solutions. One solution specifically, Reading BrightStart!. It’s a science-based, evidence-backed program developed right here at Nemours 20 years ago to identify reading readiness issues early and to provide targeted, developmentally appropriate interventions for children from birth to age five.
Joining me right now to talk about Reading BrightStart! are Dawn Espinoza. She’s an educational support supervisor, and Samantha Taylor, a quality performance specialist, both with the Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties in Florida, not far from Tampa. They and their teaching staff are using Reading BrightStart! in their classrooms right now with their young students. Also with us from Nemours Children’s Health are Dr. Rebeca Grysko. Beca is a special education teacher and school liaison at Nemours Children’s Hospital Florida, along with Jamie Williams, manager of intellectual property and curriculum design for Nemours Children’s Health, to whom I turned to give us a bit of history on the Reading BrightStart! Program.
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
As Dr. Grysko noted earlier, 64% of children who attend free, publicly available, half-day, voluntary pre-K programs in Florida meet the ready-for-kindergarten score threshold, as opposed to the 36% of children who do not participate. There are lots of published studies noting the same, that pre-K is a powerful window for intervention. Early assessment and intervention during the pre-K years are significant. And it helps to improve the likelihood that children will enter kindergarten ready to read. With this in mind and recognizing that early literacy is a critical determinant of long-term health, Nemours Children’s Health launched the Reading BrightStart! program in 2005 to support preschool students at risk for reading failure and to promote reading success.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
So the program consists of what, Jamie? Talk about the curricula and what’s available resource-wise for families.
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
Absolutely. To build a strong reading foundation for children from birth to age five, Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart! offers a collection of research-based products, resources, and services, which are divided into three focus areas. The first focus area is curriculum. So we offer four levels of unique and highly effective curricula from infants through the first grade. Our preschool and kindergarten curricula were developed first with the focus of supporting children whose early literacy skills are identified as below grade level. These supplemental multisensory curricula are designed to be used with small groups of children to bring their literacy skills back up to where their peers are at. We also have an infant and toddler curriculum that takes a different approach. So the focus here is on laying a foundation for literacy through high-quality, engaging interactions with the caregivers in their classroom. This is a comprehensive curricula that covers all areas of development with a heavy emphasis on language and literacy skills.
The second focus area is professional development. We provide teacher trainings to prepare educators to use our curricula, and we have certified trainer courses that support school administrators and coaches as they help teachers to implement the programs in their classrooms. We also offer trainings on general topics that are related to building early literacy skills in classroom settings as well. And then last, because we know that parents and families are the first teachers to children, our last focus area is the family literacy website that we have, which assists families in building that strong literacy foundation for children in their home. The family literacy website includes a free preschool reading screener for children ages three to five years old.
The screener makes it easy for parents to check their child’s reading readiness skills, and then it delivers a plan to them that helps families keep their children on track for kindergarten. There’s also home activities, which are sorted by age and skill level, that support literacy development in a fun, engaging way. There are book recommendations with tips on how to read aloud to children and then related activities to help reinforce those pre-reading skills. And last, there are articles for parents that are written by our experts to help get children on the path to reading success. All of the resources on our family literacy website are free, and our curricula and training must be purchased.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
We’ll have to get that website from you. Put it in the show notes. How widely, Jamie, is Reading BrightStart! being used today?
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
Great question. So over the past 20 years, the Reading BrightStart! curricula and resources have been purchased and used in 38 states across the United States. In our service areas alone, 61 of the 67 counties and all three counties in Delaware have users that utilize our curriculum and resources. We partner with early learning coalitions, school districts, Head Start programs, and educational non-profit organizations to help increase literacy across the country.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
And I’m guessing this has helped thousands of children across the nation in the 20 years since it’s been started. I also understand that there are many, many studies, multiple studies, peer-reviewed, published journal articles that demonstrate the effectiveness of Reading BrightStart! in its curriculum, especially for preschool students, which is really your focus, those who are at risk for reading failure, which is really your micro focus. So I want to turn to some of the field experts, the ones using this curriculum each and every day, and talk a little bit about their experiences. That would be Dawn, Samantha, and Beca. Dawn, I’m going to turn to you first. How long have you been using the Reading BrightStart! curriculum?
Dawn Espinoza, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
Our organization has been using it for nearly six years now. It’s just been a joy to introduce this to our child care centers, family child care homes in our communities.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Dawn, what attracted you to this particular curriculum?
Dawn Espinoza, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
That’s a great question, Carol. It’s such a great early literacy intervention that we can introduce to our providers. It’s intentional, it’s research-based, and it empowers our early childhood educators to teach language and literacy development. We found that the program is very user-friendly and practical. And it’s so important because our teachers come to us with a variety of educational levels. And so we just love seeing how our teachers get so excited to open and explore their kits. And inside their Nemours BrightStart! kits, there’s a clear guidance. There’s so many activities on materials that the children truly enjoy. I can tell you the teachers enjoy it too. It’s amazing how it also aligns to children’s individual needs and learning styles. That’s really what helped our organization decide to introduce this to our providers.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Samantha, do you remember the first time you got one of those kits?
Samantha Taylor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
Yes. I remember when the box came, I was assuming it would be a normal square box, and it was huge and massive, and I opened it, and it was like Christmas. It’s exciting. There’s so many different materials there and all of them are hands-on, which is obviously what we’re looking for in those BBK classrooms.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
So, Samantha, tell me what you like about the Reading BrightStart! curriculum and how it supports the students you work with.
Samantha Taylor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
I’m a coach for the Nemours program, so I work with the teachers. So I go into their classroom. We train them and then I go into the classroom with them, make sure they’re utilizing it correctly, if they have any questions, and then I help them with their pre- and post-assessments afterwards. But my favorite part about this program is that teachers don’t need the extra work. They have a lot on their plate. They have a lot to do, and this Nemours program, it’s set for them. It has everything they need. The lessons are set for them. All they have to do is prepare a few things, which we do with them, and then they get to do these fun activities in a small group, and why they get to do it. They also get to see the growth and the gains of their students. And nothing is better than having that in the classroom.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Absolutely. So it’s a turnkey solution. Beca, I want to turn to you. I would guess that the hospital’s been using the program since its inception, but I could be wrong. How long have you been using it there?
Dr. Rebeca Grysko, Nemours Children’s Health:
I’ve actually been using the program for about three years. At Nemours Children’s Hospital in Florida, our school program offers a specialized reading intervention clinic for our young patients that we identify as struggling readers, many of whom are working several grade levels behind due to chronic illness or medical complexity. And as part of this targeted intervention, we use the Reading BrightStart! curriculum. We’ve seen remarkable results with our patients, but especially with those in our cochlear implant program, many of whom experience speech and language delays. These children often face challenges with auditory processing, phonological awareness, all of which are critical to reading success. And similar to what Dawn was saying, the multisensory design of the Reading BrightStart! curriculum is especially beneficial for these learners by engaging multiple senses, sight, sound, touch, movement. The program really helps to reinforce learning in ways that go beyond listening alone.
So activities like tracing letters, clapping out syllables, building words with tactile materials, these all allow children to access literacy through pathways that match their unique strengths and needs. I feel that our experience here at the hospital with the curriculum demonstrates that it is not only effective for students in general education settings but also serves as a highly impactful support for children with disabilities, including those with significant speech and language delays. It really gives children alternative entry points into reading by helping them to access, understand, and retain content in ways that match their strengths.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Beca, how do the teachers feel about it? How do they feel about using it in the classroom?
Dr. Rebeca Grysko, Nemours Children’s Health:
Similar to what Samantha and Dawn were saying, we find it very user-friendly. We only have two certified teachers, full-time certified teachers in our program, and then we have a number of volunteer teachers from the community as well as teacher interns. And many of those teachers are at the beginning of their careers. And so we find that the Nemours BrightStart! curriculum is effective, research-based, but also user-friendly for those that have not been teaching reading for years and years. It gives them something that they can implement and feel very confident.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
And it’s evidence-based, so that makes it even better. Samantha, you’re nodding your head. The teachers, including yourself, really like this?
Samantha Taylor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
Yes, it’s an amazing program. And I was also going to add that we noticed in a lot of, especially VPK classrooms, there’s been more and more children enrolling with language barriers. I had one teacher who had multiple children that were…where first language was Spanish. We even had one that was a French student. And this program… She said, what a difference since she’s been using this program to help with those dual language learners as well in those areas, too.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Jamie, you look like you have something to add here.
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
Yeah, actually, we have research to show that dual language learners respond very well to the Reading BrightStart! program. It might just be because the language is broken down well enough that it helps them to learn and acquire the English language as opposed to the language that is spoken in their home.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Dawn, you’re nodding your head. I want to ask you about what Jamie just said, but I also want to ask you generally, what student gains have you seen and experienced from your work with the program?
Dawn Espinoza, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
We have seen significant gains, especially, we look at the instructors, the teachers in the classroom through the class observation tool, and we have seen significant gains in teacher language modeling and quality of feedback, which is so important to support the development of our young children.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Open question for anyone. Have you seen any parent testimonials, heard them say, wow, or maybe have some student stories that stand out to you?
Samantha Taylor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
I had a teacher, she’s actually a home-based center. She’s not in a huge center. She has different A groups in her classroom. So when you do the Nemours program, you do a pre-test and a post-test. So she had six children in her class who were eligible for the Nemours program, and she did the pre-test. So, for example, she had all students of the six that were under the threshold, and after for her post-test, each one of them were over 115 of a score at the end. So let’s say they started at 75, one was 75, one was 76. At the end, they jumped all the way to 120 to 118. That’s a significant gain in just those 20 lessons.
And at the end, she said that… When I submit that data, she gives that data to parents. And she said, all the parents were just amazed at what a jump, and they said they’ve seen that jump in the car ride. They’ve been like, oh, mom, that’s letter B, or That makes that sound. And when they ask their child, “Where’d you learn that?”
“I learned that in small groups today.”
And children might not know it’s the Nemours program, but the data there shows how much the program does work.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I want to be clear about where this is used. It sounds like it’s used in home daycare centers. It’s used in standard daycare centers, maybe in public preschool programs. Am I missing anything, Jamie?
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
It’s also used in public schools in their pre-K and kindergarten programs, and it can be used up to first grade with children that are struggling.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Nice. Any other parent testimonials or student stories that stand out, Jamie? Didn’t you send me one earlier today?
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
I did, actually, I sent it from Samantha. Samantha, it’s one of your teachers, I think. Would you like to speak about it?
Samantha Taylor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
It’s a teacher we have. She works with VPK students, and she was one that was talking about earlier, where she had a French language student in her class. She’s never had a French student before, so this was her…I believe it was her second year using the Nemours program, and she said that she felt kind of lost on where to start with that language barrier. And she was like, “I’m going to start with my Nemours program.” And she said that she had wonderful results using that program with him and his language barrier in the classroom. She uses the Nemours program every single year with her BBK students, and she shares the data with everyone. She’s wonderful with her program. She’s one of the teachers that I always use when I need to go out there and get a quick video or quick feedback, because she’s one of those that is a great testimonial for how great the program is.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Now, Samantha, you’re using an acronym I’m not familiar with it. VPK?
Samantha Taylor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
VPK is a voluntary pre-kindergarten program that they mentioned earlier.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Okay. Just for clarification, for those who aren’t familiar. Becca, you talked in the first episode of this podcast series about the importance of building early literacy during preschool years. Based on your own experience, you’re using this right there on the ground in the field. Anything you’d like to add to that?
Dr. Rebeca Grysko, Nemours Children’s Health:
Something that I’ll add was the family letters, especially the ones that come in Spanish. So the majority of our families are Spanish speaking, and when we started using the Nemours BrightStart! program, it was extremely helpful to have those family letters to provide our families so that they could see what we worked on and have practical ways that they could extend the learning at home.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
So that’s good feedback to have so that you can implement whatever feedback you get.
Dr. Rebeca Grysko, Nemours Children’s Health:
Absolutely. We know that what we do in the classroom matters, but also how that learning is extended in the home is just as important.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What are you hearing from other early learning centers and other classrooms who are using Reading BrightStart? Jamie or Becca.
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
What we’re hearing from these programs is not isolated to just these programs. We have what I like to call power users that have been users for 10, 15, some of them our whole time that we have been in inception. And they come back to us year after year, eager to show the results that they have from their data pre and post. I actually had a great conversation with a principal from St. Augustine a few months ago, telling me that she’s actually now seeing the trickle-up effect happening in her school. So, children that received our pre-K and kindergarten intervention in those beginning years, pre-K through first grade are now in that third to fifth grade window, and they are seeing that the achievement gap is closing for these children. They got the foundation that they needed. They were behind, they were caught up, and now their third through fifth grade scores and state assessments are showing it, which is really exciting to see.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Dawn, as we close out here today, I’m wondering if you or Samantha have any anecdotes or data that reinforce the connection between early literacy and long-term health and thriving?
Dawn Espinoza, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
We are collecting ongoing data of the gains from students and teachers. Of course, we mentioned the class observation tool. We’ve noticed significant gains in language modeling and quality of feedback from our instructors. At the Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando, our mission is to create supportive communities for children to be successful in school and life. And because every child deserves a quality education from day one, that is why we support the Nemours BrightStart! We want to see our families and children thrive, and as our programs grow and as that data comes in, we’ll be happy to share that information with everyone about the gains.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Samantha, anything to add to that?
Samantha Taylor, Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Florida:
Nope. Dawn’s right on spot with it. We do do the pre- and post-test for children, but we don’t technically have specific data for the teachers or anything with the gains. But the gains are definitely there.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Jamie, Beca, I’m going to leave the last word to the two of you. Same question, anecdotes or data that really reinforce that connection between early literacy and long-term health and thriving.
Dr. Rebeca Grysko, Nemours Children’s Health:
Yeah. I think the big takeaway from everything that we talked about today is that literacy isn’t just an academic skill. It is a critical life skill that impacts an individual’s ability to access health information, to communicate effectively, build self-confidence, and truly participate in their communities. So by investing in early literacy, we’re not only supporting academic success, but we’re also laying that groundwork for healthier, more empowered futures.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Jamie, final word.
Jamie Williams, Nemours Children’s Health:
Absolutely. I think that the more we can do, the earlier, the better. We talked about that earlier. We want to make sure that we’re providing a foundation from birth for children. We don’t want to have to just intervene when they need the help. Let’s lay a foundation. Let’s start it in the beginning and see the long-term effects across our country.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Jamie Williams is the manager of intellectual property and curriculum designed for Nemours Children’s Health, talking about Reading BrightStart! We also heard from Dr. Rebeca Grysko, a special education teacher and school liaison at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida. Dawn Espinoza, educational support supervisor and Samantha Taylor, quality performance specialist, both with the Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties in Florida.
Music:
Well beyond Medicine.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Thanks to Jamie, Beca, Dawn, and Samantha for joining us to talk all things Reading BrightStart!, and thank you for listening. Check out our show notes for links to more information about Reading BrightStart!, as well as the results of the Harris Poll survey on early literacy in the U.S. Please also take a moment to visit our website, nemourswellbeyond.org, to listen to the first part of this literacy series, along with all of our previous podcast episodes. While you’re there, leave a voicemail with your episode ideas. Also, leave a review and subscribe to our monthly newsletter and the podcast itself. That’s nemourswellbeyond.org.
You can also send episode ideas to [email protected], and you can listen and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app, including the Nemours YouTube channel. Our production team for this episode includes Cheryl Munn, Susan Masucci, Lauren Teta, Steve Savino, and Sebastian Riella. Join us next time as we talk digital health from a national and global perspective with the Chief Scientific Officer of the Healthcare Information and Management System Society, also known as HIMSS. I’m Carol Vassar. Until then, remember, we can change children’s health for good, well beyond medicine.
Music:
Let’s go, oh, oh.
Well beyond medicine.
