Atlanta Speech School Book Distributed to Over 10,000 Children

The Rollins Center for Language & Literacy at the Atlanta Speech School has written a second book, Amari’s Bike Adventure, which is being distributed to over 10,000 children across the City of Atlanta through the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club and Atlanta Speech School partner sites thanks to a generous grant from PNC. The Rollins Center is the professional development arm of the Atlanta Speech School.

The Rollins Center is committed to providing teachers and school leaders professional development in research-based strategies to foster the language and literacy skills of young children. Recognizing parents as teachers' key partners in a child's learning, the Rollins Center has written Amari’s Bike Adventure, which includes details about the research-based READ strategy created by the Rollins Center, and suggestions for using the book and the READ strategy to build language, vocabulary and critical thinking skills in children. Parents can use this strategy with all books they read with their children.

“Research has shown that by reading with children – not to them – adults greatly increase children’s language and literacy, developing the foundation they need to enter kindergarten as strong, confident learners on a path to grade level reading and so much more,” stated Atlanta Speech School Executive Director Comer Yates. “By creating Amari’s Bike Adventure with the accompanying learning guide, we hope to extend the work of our School to help parents learn what they can do to make books come alive for their children and increase their learning.”

Amari’s Bike Adventure was selected for the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club led by the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS). Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed read the book to children at the Reading Club kickoff event. Books were also distributed to over 7,000 Pre-K through second grade students in Atlanta Public Schools before summer break. Additional books will be distributed through GEEARS partner events throughout the summer.

The Atlanta Speech School is the nation’s most comprehensive language and literacy center. Established in 1938, the Atlanta Speech School’s four schools, five clinics, summer program and professional development center seek to help each person develop his or her full potential through language and literacy. Each year, the School impacts the lives of approximately 1,400 children and adults at the Atlanta Speech School and more than 7,600 students throughout the State of Georgia through the work of its Rollins Center for Language & Literacy professional development program.