Speech Language Pathology can help your child develop important literacy skills that are essential for them to excel both socially and academically. If you notice any language and speech delays or discrepancies in your child, it’s important to seek help as soon as possible so that progress in their speech development can occur as soon as possible. This is because literacy skills, such as writing, reading, speaking and understanding words are a vital part of your child’s development.
At Alex V. Speech Pathology, we treat children’s speech disorders, also providing language therapy services for children who struggle with literacy.
Why is Literacy Important?
Literacy is a highly important skill for young children to develop for a number of reasons. Knowing how to read, share stories and comprehend others is imperative to their development, helping them build stronger connections with the people in the world around them.
Additionally, good literacy skills often build the foundation of academic success as your child will better understand questions in class relating to a range of different subjects. Many parents begin their child’s literacy journey by reading them bedtime stories, helping them sound out words in books and including them in adult conversations. This Is the best way to ensure your child begins learning as soon as possible; however, we understand this can be a difficult task, especially if you begin to notice your child struggling to develop literacy skills.
At Alex V. Speech Pathology, we see language development as a collaborative process between child, parent and Speech Pathologist; therefore, we provide you with easy-to-follow homework activities in addition to our literacy sessions.
Fundamental Language Skills
When it comes to language, there are a series of fundamental skills that form the foundation of literacy development. If your child fails to develop these skills, they will struggle to understand all areas of literacy and may fall behind in school and in their social life.
Thees skills include:
- The ability to pronounce words correctly
- The ability to break up and blend sounds and syllables in words
- Vocabulary (understanding and using a variety of words correctly)
- Comprehension
- The ability to tell a story
- Syntax/ Grammar
- Reasoning, problem solving and predicting
If you notice that your child is failing to develop some of these fundamental skills at the same rate as their peers, it’s important to seek help as soon as possible to avoid any further language delays, especially if they are school aged.
Alex V. Speech Pathology can tailor sessions to match your child’s curriculum and ensure they reach the standard reading and writing level for their age group.
How Alex V. Speech Pathology Helps
Many people might be surprised to know that Speech Language Pathology doesn’t just involve teaching children how to talk properly. Instead, it also involves therapy around how to better understand literature including comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and more.
At Alex V. Speech Pathology, we strive to find the basis of your child’s literacy difficulties so that we can focus on treating the most important things, first. By treating the root of an issue, the other issues will be much easier to treat, or in some cases, naturally fall into place.
When treating children, it is important to tailor each session to their age, interests, hobbies and family situation in order to keep the child engaged and achieve the most effective results. In addition, we aim to make our clinic as far from “clinical” as possible, using bright colours, games and building a genuine rapport with you and your family.
Learn more about how we help children develop fundamental literacy skills here.