Reach Out and Read Arabic to Promote Arabic Literacy in Toddlers

February 7, 2023 updated by: Lama Charafeddine, American University of Beirut Medical Center

"Reach Out and Read" Arabic to Promote Parental Reading to Toddlers and Preschoolers

The goal of this study is to encourage parents to read Arabic books to their children from an early age and by extension children will be more likely to read Arabic books and ultimately improve their Arabic literacy.

The investigators' hypothesis is that an adapted "Reach Out and Read" program will result in an increase in the proportion of parents reading Arabic books to their children after the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Early reading for toddlers has been linked to a better grasp of the fundamentals of language as they approach school age, as reading exposes the child to rich language and diverse content. Reach Out and Read program (ROR) is an American non-profit organization that advocates for childhood literacy.

In this study the investigators aim to implement an adapted version of the "Reach Out and Read" program and to encourage parents to read Arabic books to their children in order for this to become a daily habit. The goal of this study is to see an increase in the proportion of parents who read Arabic books to their children and by extension children will grow up loving to read Arabic books and ultimately may have improved Arabic literacy.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Lebanon
      • Beirut, Lebanon, 1107 2020
        • American University of Beirut

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

4 months to 6 months (CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Parents must identify the study's settings as the usual site for their child regular checkups
  • Families are eligible if at least one parent understands, speaks and reads Arabic.
  • The child's age between 4 and 6 months at the time of the enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children diagnosed or displaying severe behavioral, cognitive, or physical impairment, that prevents them in meaningfully engaging in a reading activity example: severe autism, profound developmental or intellectual delay.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: TRIPLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Intervention

The research assistant introduces the adapted 'Reach out and Read" program and informs participants about the benefits of reading to children at an early age. A 4:50 minutes video clip would be shown during the initial visit. This video discusses the benefits of reading displaying practical tips for parents; it includes tips on how to read, pointing at the words.

A schematic pamphlet highlighting the importance of reading Arabic to children and the impact of such reading on children's brain development, vocabulary acquisition and behavior in addition to the impact on the parent child bond and relationship is given to the parents.

After each visit participants will receive an age appropriate book for their child.

Focus groups will be conducted by a qualitative researcher
Behavioral: Reach out and Read

The intervention group will be viewing a video encouraging to read to their children and giving tips on reading methods, in addition will be given a schematic pamphlet highlighting the importance of reading Arabic to children.

After each visit participants will receive an age appropriate book for their child (a total of 3 books). The first book consist of popular nursery rhymes that are usually sung for younger infants. The choice of the 2 other books is based on recommendations from an early child educator according to age specificity.

Focus group conducted by a qualitative researcher will follow the protocol reported by Richard A. Krueger.
NO_INTERVENTION: Control
The research assistant gives routine advice on child development including importance of reading and advice on nutrition and safety and gives parents a leaflet about early child development and complementary feeding

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of parents reading Arabic books to their children
Time Frame: 3 years
Measure the proportion of parents reading Arabic books to their children after 3 intervention visits, when their child is about 15 months of age. Parental reading is defined as reading for a minimum of 10 minutes daily for at least 5 days per week.
3 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Weekly frequency of parental reading in Arabic before, and after the intervention
Time Frame: 3 years
The weekly frequency of parental reading in Arabic before, and after the intervention at each age group (9, 12 and 15 months), then at 2 and 3 years of age as compared between experimental and control group
3 years
Children's vocabulary and language / words'
Time Frame: 3 years
The children's vocabulary and language / words' acquisition in the experimental compared to the control group at 2 years and 3 years.
3 years
Children's early developmental milestones
Time Frame: 3 years
The children's early developmental milestones in the experimental compared to the control group at 2 years and 3 years.
3 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

American University of Beirut Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

November 1, 2018

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

May 30, 2022

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

July 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 24, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 19, 2019

First Posted (ACTUAL)

February 20, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

February 8, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 7, 2023

Last Verified

February 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PED.LC.13

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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