Let’s chat about a possibly controversial topic for some: reading. Why on Earth should an SLP add one more thing to their plate and tackle reading? I am going to share a little bit of my why in this post. Why I think language and literacy go together and how I started treating children with reading deficits.
When I started graduate school in 2002, several of my professors had an interest in the area of language learning deficits and reading. This became a part of my training from day one. It was never an outlandish idea. It made sense. Language is just not spoken but also written.
You can read extensively about the a Speech Language Pathologist’s role here at the ASHA website.
“Language- Spoken and written language (listening, processing, speaking, reading, writing, pragmatics)
- Phonology
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Semantics
- Pragmatics (language use and social aspects of communication)
- Prelinguistic communication (e.g., joint attention, intentionality, communicative signaling)
- Paralinguistic communication (e.g., gestures, signs, body language)
- Literacy (reading, writing, spelling)”
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2016). Scope of practice in speech-language pathology [Scope of Practice]. Available from www.asha.org/policy/.
SLPs bring a lot to the table. Friends, you know a lot more than you think. SLPs have extensive knowledge about language, phonology, vocabulary, and grammatic structure.
During graduate school, the Speech-Language Pathology did not offer a formal course on ” reading”. As part of my specialty practicum, I took a course on reading through the education department. This course was eye-opening in many ways. To be fair this was 2002, keep that in mind. Teachers and SLPs look at reading and language through a different set of lenses. I mention this to illustrate the knowledge that we bring to the table. For example: Why would a child spell dressed as drest? Or dress as jress or train as chain?
We have knowledge of morphology. -ed signifies past tense. However, it can sound like /t/, /d/, or /id/. We also understand co-articulation and can explain why some spelling errors can be attributed to it.
In my opinion, if you only target the verbal/spoken form of verb tense you are missing a golden opportunity to target the skill in all its forms. I think that SLPs in collaboration with teachers can create a really rich language and literacy learning environment.
Over the years with children of reading age I have seen an increase in language skills just by targeting reading. If we are able to increase a child’s independent access to the written word it can help further their development in language. I am not lobbying for you to completely upend your therapy style. I do challenge you however to think about how you can sneak in some reading/spelling into your therapy.
Stick around here and we will be sharing some easy ways to sneak language and literacy into your therapy sessions. We will also be sharing some resources to empower families to get involved. Check out my series on Lit Artic kits. Here you will find some great activities that you can put together on a rainy day and have ready for when you most need a fun therapy activity.
Do you address reading, writing,ng or spelling deficits in your therapy sessions? If you do please share some of your favorite activities below.