Reading begins with sound. Children with speech sound disorders or childhood apraxia of speech often struggle with reading, and vice versa. That’s why we integrate reading and literacy into our speech therapy program at Better Speech.
The Importance of Early Literacy Skills
A few years ago, the article “Hard Words: Why Aren’t Kids Being Taught to Read?” went viral on social media. It shocked many to learn that even older kids were struggling with reading. As a speech therapist, I see this firsthand with my young patients. We always include developmentally appropriate literacy activities in our sessions, even for those without diagnosed reading disorders.
The Connection Between Speech and Reading Disorders
The article emphasized that while we use our eyes to read, reading starts with sound. Children need to understand how the words they hear and speak connect to the letters on a page. Writing is a code that represents speech sounds, and kids need to crack this code to read effectively.
Children with speech sound disorders or childhood apraxia of speech often find decoding difficult. By the time a child is diagnosed with dyslexia, they’ve usually struggled with reading for a while, missing critical early learning years. This delay can set them up for continued failure, as they read less, get less practice, and therefore, their reading skills don’t improve.
How We Integrate Literacy in Speech Therapy
At Speech Up, we incorporate literacy into our program by targeting early literacy skills during our sessions. Whether a child is on track or delayed, we meet them where they are and help them progress. The “Hard Words” article noted the missing element in many reading instructions: phonics, which is the understanding that letters represent sounds.
Engaging Reading Activities for Speech Development
When reading to children, make it fun with sound effects for animals, vehicles, and other words. This reinforces that sounds represent objects or ideas.
For example:
- Thump!
- Squeak!
- Thud!
Building Foundational Reading Skills
Most children need to master skills like rhyming, syllable counting, blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds to become proficient readers. Here are some fun ways to work on these skills:
Rhyming: Use puzzles, poems, songs, and storybooks with rhymes. Create your own rhymes or short poems.
Syllables: Start with one-syllable words and progress to two and three. Clap or tap out the syllables to help your child detect patterns. Use compound words to reinforce learning.
Blending/Segmenting: Teach your child to separate and combine sounds. For example, the word ‘bat’ can be segmented into /b/ /a/ /t/.
Sound Manipulation: Once blending and segmenting are mastered, teach your child to manipulate sounds to form new words. For example, ‘bat’ can become ‘bit’, ‘bag’, or ‘tab’. Make this fun with letter cups to shuffle around and form new words.
Organizing Words by Types: Children often struggle with decoding long and short words simultaneously. Group words into types like CV (consonant-vowel), VC (vowel-consonant), CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant), and so on. This helps children understand patterns and gain confidence in their reading abilities.
Resources for Parents
There are many online resources for working on these skills at home. Some recommended ones include:
- How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities
- Phonological Awareness activities at Scholastic
- Phonemic Awareness Games at PBS
We also recommend a book available on Amazon that focuses on learning phonological awareness through play, which is often more effective than memorizing letter sounds or using worksheets.
Convenient and Tailored Online Speech Therapy
At Speech Up, we offer online speech therapy services that are convenient, affordable, and tailored to your child’s individual needs. Our services are effective in helping children develop both speech and literacy skills. Get started with Speech Up today.