Reach Out and Read

Everything in a fairy tale has already been lost. The fairy tale is where we go to find it again.” Sabrina Orah Mark, author of the new book “Happily” and an award-winning writer and columnist for The Paris Review, joins us to talk about how fairy tales shape - and reflect - our reality in childhood, and beyond.

We know that kids' brains change as they grow, but did you know that their parents' brains change too? Dr. Darby Saxbe, a clinical psychologist, professor and director of clinical training at the Department of Psychology, and the Principal Investigator of the NEST Lab (NeuroEndocrinology of Social Ties Lab) at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, joins us to talk about emerging research that shows how parenthood changes the brain and how encouraging focused time between parents and children benefits everyone in the relationship.

In the fifth and final episode in our multi-part series on poverty and early relational health we look inside our organization and examine the work Reach Out and Read is doing to help families experiencing material hardship. Ruth Coleman, Alex Chu, and Callee Boulware outline how we can use our long-standing experience and in-depth research to focus on under-resourced communities and support meaningful approaches to poverty and healthy early relationships.

Reach Out and Read has been working on a remarkable new strategy around a key element of what we do: books! A strong approach is key to supporting our mission and as a sustainable part of how we work. Angela Cunningham, Reach Out and Read's National Director of Books Strategy and Partnerships, joins us to talk about how we approach books, and what the future might hold.

Adoption is a very common route to becoming a parent; yet, many don’t know how to talk about it, and know little about adoption. And even those strongly considering adoption have many questions and worries. Today we’re talking with leading adoption medical specialist Dr. Elaine Schulte about what non-adoptive and adoptive parents should know about attachment, family integration, and the language in and around adoption.