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About PlayReadVIP

PlayReadVIP is an evidence-based parenting program that uses videotaping and developmentally-appropriate toys, books and resources to help parents utilize pretend play, shared reading, and daily routines as opportunities for strengthening early development and literacy in their children.

The PlayReadVIP National Center at NYU Grossman School of Medicine provides centralized support for all program locations, including program implementation, training, supervision, and maintenance of fidelity.  In addition, the National Center works centrally to continuously study and optimize the program, and adapt to the needs of new sites and populations.

​Sessions are designed to take place in pediatric clinics on days of routine well-child visits, and at each session families meet individually with a PlayReadVIP Coach for approximately 25 minutes.​  Sessions can also be based in other settings, such as family support centers, home visits, and more.

Learn more about our Mission and Values.

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​Who We Are

PlayReadVIP was developed by a team of pediatricians, researchers, and child development experts (led by Principal Investigator, Alan Mendelsohn, MD) at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYC H+H/Bellevue, as part of the Bellevue Project for Early Language, Literacy, and Education Success (BELLE Project), now the PlayReadVIP National Center.

​Our History

PlayReadVIP began in 1999, when it was originally called Video Interaction Project, or VIP, with support from Children of Bellevue.  Drs. Alan Mendelsohn and Benard Dreyer, who were pediatricians serving families at NYC H+H/Bellevue while also being members of the NYU School of Medicine faculty, worked together with Virginia Flynn, a Bellevue Child Life Specialist, to develop and implement the program. At the time, Bellevue Hospital Center was the first site in New York City to offer Reach Out and Read, a program that provides children's books, counseling about reading aloud, and modeling about reading activities to low-income children and parents as part of pediatric care.  PlayReadVIP was designed to build parenting skills and self-efficacy in low-income families by building on Reach Out and Read's model and utilizing pediatric primary care as a platform for reaching high-risk families.  PlayReadVIP builds on Reach Out and Read by adding, at each well-child visit, one-on-one sessions with a facilitator to provide opportunities for guided self-reflection through videotaped interactions of the parent and child. 

PlayReadVIP was originally geared towards parents of infants and toddlers, and was expanded in 2009 to include a preschool component for parents of children 3 - 5 years of age. 
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Since its beginning, PlayReadVIP has been rigorously studied through a series of randomized controlled trials that have shown large, long-lasting benefits for parents and children who have participated in the program.

In 2013, through funding from New York City Council Member Stephen Levin, as well as the Tiger Foundation and Marks Family Foundation, PlayReadVIP was expanded to a second clinical site: NYC H+H/Woodhull in Brooklyn, NY.  PlayReadVIP is currently available free of charge to all parents of young children (birth to 3) who are receiving pediatric care at Woodhull. 

In 2015, we began expanding to additional locations, initially through support from City's First Readers, the Tiger Foundation, and other funders. In  2019 we launched the VIP Center of Excellence.

In 2024, the program got a new, updated look - transitioning the name from Video Interaction Project (VIP) to PlayReadVIP, and rebranding the PlayReadVIP National Center at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.