When parents bring a child to a Kansas pediatrician participating in the "Turn a Page, Touch a Mind" program, they may be surprised to receive a children's book along with medical care for their offspring.

Yet, doctors say few things could be more important to a child's mental development than having a parent read to them.

"Getting a book into the hands of a parent or guardian is the first step to encourage them to read to a child," said Dr. Natalie Sollo, associate professor of pediatrics at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita, and a champion of the program at the KU Wichita Pediatrics clinic. "It gives the parents a chance to read to their child about simple things like colors, numbers, opposites -- things that are going to be helpful as they grow. We know that kids that aren't read to don't always pick up those concepts."

KU Wichita Pediatrics was one of the first "Turn a Page" sites in the state when the program was launched 10 years ago. Today, there are 70, and the program has given away nearly 400,000 books.

The program is funded by the Kansas Pediatric Foundation, the charitable arm of the Kansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Kathy Melhorn, another Wichita faculty member, was one of the physicians who helped raise money to create an endowment for the program. The endowment allows the program to continue "without going to people all the time asking for money," she said, although donations of money and books are still encouraged.

Melhorn said "Turn a Page" was modeled on a program that began in Boston in the late 1980s and has spread across the country. The Kansas effort has one difference: there is no income-based criterion for those who receive books.

"We wanted ours to be for every child," Melhorn said.

But many of the children and parents who receive books are low-income, since that demographic group comprises the majority of patients served by KU Wichita Pediatrics -- the program's largest site.

Pediatricians who participate in "Turn a Page" give books to the parents or children between the ages of six months and 5 years old, who come in for wellness checks. The doctors are encouraged to hand the books out themselves. "Sometimes you use the book to develop a rapport with the child. It's fun for the doctors, too," Melhorn said.

The older children often ask for a book whether they are there for a wellness visit or for some other purpose. That's when the pediatricians hand out "gently used" books that have been donated to the program.

In contrast to children from more affluent homes, Melhorn said, "Some of these kids have no books at all at home."

That's the hard reality that drives Sollo's participation as well. She cited KU research that showed a 30-million word difference in the number of words that children hear in the most and least affluent homes by the age of 3.

"It gets parents in the habit of talking to their kids," said Sollo, whose favorite titles to give out include "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "Goodnight Moon."

The older children she sees "want to go home with their book. It's an important part of their visit."

And as for herself, Sollo said, "It's a joy to participate."