For many people the process of learning to read and write can be frustrating and bewildering.
Teachers are the professionals responsible for teaching reading and writing but when a child has difficulties in the development of literacy skills or an adult has not acquired adequate literacy levels, speech pathologists play an important role in assessment and treatment programmes. There is a strong link between oral language skills and the acquisition of reading and writing.
If someone is referred to Speech Care with literacy difficulties, the speech pathologist assesses speech, language and phonological awareness skills. These skills form the necessary basis on which to build written language. A person who lacks the awareness of how sounds work together to form words will encounter problems with the decoding skills necessary for reading and spelling.
For some people the ability to decode the written word is intact but there may be significant difficulties with understanding the meaning of the text. Often this is because of oral language deficits. Once the underlying problem has been determined therapy programmes are devised.
Early intervention is very important. Pre-schoolers with a history of delayed speech and language skills can be assessed and if it is found that they are also delayed in the area of phonological awareness skills, pre-literacy programmes can be implemented. Preschoolers are introduced to sound, syllable and rhyme awareness activities as a precursor to formal reading and spelling instruction.
At Speech Care we have close links with schools and colleges and in many cases provide services on-campus. This is of great benefit to the client as it provides liaison with classroom teachers and learning support staff who are the key people involved the child's literacy development.
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