87 - Books@Heart – A Novel Inpatient Program for Early Childhood Literacy and Language Development in a Heart Center

Poster Number: 87
Publication Number: 87.303

Kriti Puri, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States; Justin Elhoff, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States; Christina Burford, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States; Hallie Clason, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX, United States; Ana M. Gomez Rubio, Texas children’s hospital, Houston, TX, United States; Stephanie K. Hill, Texas Children's Hospital, Katy, TX, United States; Ginger G. Brown, Texas Children's Hospital, Pearland, TX, United States; Louisa Sethi, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States; Kirby Deshotels, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States; Lauren Salinas, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States; Tasha D. Bryant, Texas Children's Hospital, Spring, TX, United States; Christina Wong, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States; Amanda Ruth, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States

Background: Early childhood literacy programs (ECLP), including distribution of books and anticipatory guidance for parental reading during clinic visits, are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics to promote language development. Early childhood reading is associated with better vocabulary and school performance, and improved parent-child bonding. Children with heart disease have prolonged hospitalizations during infancy and childhood and may miss out on this reading guidance that is typically given at well-child visits.

Objective: To establish an inpatient ECLP in the Heart Center to promote cognitive development. 

Design/Methods: We launched “Books@Heart” in 02/2021 for all infants < 12months old admitted to our Heart Center (Fig 1). Each family receives a book and reading guidance at ages corresponding to well-child checks – birth/admission, 2months, 4months, 6months, 9months, and 12months. A speech and language pathology (SLP) consultation for language development is also ordered after introduction to the program. Each family receives a reading calendar to self-track the number of reading sessions. Reading medals and trophies are awarded for 14 and 21 sessions per month, respectively.

Results: During the first 10 months of Books@Heart, 302 infants (55% male) and families received 419 books. Median age of infants entering the program was 2.2months (IQR 0.2 – 5.6months). This cohort was racially/ethnically diverse (36% non-Hispanic White, 40% Hispanic, 14% non-Hispanic Black, 10% others). The first book was in English language in 62%, bilingual (English-Spanish) in 35%, and Spanish in 3%. This cohort was read to 4498 times over cumulative 11,873 inpatient days. Median number of reading sessions per infant per week was 0.4 (IQR 0 – 2.6). Fig 2 shows the trend in reading freqency over time. Fifty seven infants received 124 reading medals and 37 infants received 88 reading trophies. SLP consultations were completed in 41% (124/302) patients. Families who received SLP services read to their child more frequently (median 1.5 times/week vs 0/ week, p< 0.001), and were more likely to win reading medals (32% vs 10%, p< 0.001) and trophies (20% vs 7%, p< 0.001). There was no association of race/ethnicity with reading frequency or SLP consultations.Conclusion(s): An inpatient ECLP is a feasible method for developmental care in a Heart Center. At our center, there remains significant scope for improvement in inpatient reading practices. Partnering with SLP may be a helpful tool. Long term follow-up is needed to assess the impact of ECLP on neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Overview of an Inpatient Early Childhood Reading Program in the Heart Center: Books@HeartThis figure depicts the overview of the inpatient early childhood literacy program called "Books@Heart" through an infant's inpatient stay in our Heart Center.
Trend of Median Reading Frequency per Week over the First 10months of Books@HeartThis figure shows the monthly spread of median weekly reading frequencies per infant over the first 10 months of the implementation of Books@Heart. We did not observe an increase in frequency of reading so far.