The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh launched a new initiative designed to support language skills and emotional regulation in children.
The Early Literacy Initiative — launched during National Read Across America week and led by pediatrician Johanna Vidal-Phelan, who is The Children’s Institute’s president and CEO — added nine reading nooks across all of location of The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh, which serves children and families with special needs.
Vidal-Phelan, former UPMC Health Plan chief medical officer, said the program was designed using the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations that parents begin reading with their children from birth and continue at least through kindergarten to promote early brain development, language acquisition and healthy attachment.
“This is not something you can do with an iPad or iPhone,” Vidal-Phelan said.
A pilot of the initiative was started in the Squirrel Hill location in September.
Vidal-Phelan had noticed many of the families in the waiting room of the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh Squirrel Hill location using technology to entertain the children leading up to appointments. She began bringing books into the building for families to use instead.
After Vidal-Phelan saw parents, caregivers and children gravitate to the books, she decided to implement the Early Literacy Initiative into all five of the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh locations: Beaver, Bridgeville, Irwin, Washington and Squirrel Hill.
Sarah Dunlap, a spokeswoman for the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh, said the Early Literacy Initiative coincides with recent literacy and education pushes from local government officials.
“In an era dominated by screens, literacy is top of mind – even Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed investing in adult and family literacy programs in his 2026-2027 budget address to support the workforce,” Dunlap said in a news release.
Last month, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor and his wife, Katie O’Connor, held a roundtable discussion on early education and literacy.
The initiative was paid for by the Keefe Ellis Memorial Fund, which is sustained through contributions from many donors in memory of John Keefe Ellis, Jr., who served as a board member for the institute for 15 years.
Stacy Ellis – John Keefe Ellis’ wife – is a current board member and selected special books that she used to read to her kids to be featured in the reading nooks.
Vidal-Phelan said that some of the books are written in languages other than English and tell stories of cultures to reflect a diverse community.
Many of the toys and furniture found in each reading nook location are from Lakeshore Learning Materials, which is a retail and online supplier of educational materials to teachers, Vidal-Phelan said.
“When I see a mess of books on the floor (at the end of the day), I know we are doing something right,” Vidal-Phelan said about the children’s use of the reading nooks.