Reading for Life: The Impact of Youth Literacy on Health Outcomes

SUMMARY

Reading for Life seeks to provide a gateway to that research. Reviewing data on reading and literacy and their impact on the physical, mental, and social-emotional components of health, this paper will:

• Review the current state of children’s literacy and health, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Explore the importance of early-childhood education and literacy interventions in preschool, and their roles in health outcomes;
• Summarize existing literature on the relationship between literacy rates and physical, mental, and social-emotional health; and
• Study successful collaborations between the education and medical fields to implement literacy interventions in pediatric healthcare settings.