Good speech helps develop reading and writing skills

Written by ILT on Jan 5, 2022. Posted in Testimonials

Literacy is the term used to refer to reading and writing skills.  It develops from birth to around 3 years of age, so long  before a child can even read or write.  It follows that what children encounter at home during these early days makes a huge contribution to their reading and writing skills later in life.

Stasia Thompson, of the Loyola University Health System  writes that signs of a child’s being at risk for developing poor literacy skills include:  

• Persistent baby talk
• Lack of interest in nursery rhyme or shared book reading
• Difficulty understanding simple directions
• Difficulty learning and/or remembering names of letters
• Difficulty recognizing and/or identifying letters in his/her name
• Difficulty expressing language

Parents and caregivers can do much to encourage and even catch up on literacy development.  Suggested tips include:

• Talk with your child during daily routines (e.g., getting ready for school, mealtime)
• Name objects, people, and events at home and in the community
• Repeat your child’s string of sounds and add to them
• Respond to his or her questions
• Draw attention to print (e.g., traffic signs, store logos, food containers)
• Introduce new vocabulary words during holidays or special activities (e.g., birthdays, zoo, park)
• Singing songs
• Rhyming games
• Nursery rhymes
• Read picture and storybooks (e.g., Dr. Seuss) that focus on sounds, rhymes, and alliteration (i.e., words that start with the same sound)
• Point to words and pictures that you read and see in books
• Encourage drawing and scribbling using markers, crayons, paper, paint, etc.
• Encourage your child to describe or tell a story about his/her drawing and write down the words

Be aware of your child’s interest in and development of language.  It seems that recognising and addressing any concerns about a child’s speech and language development helps overcome later reading and writing difficulties.    Speech and language therapists are trained to help in this regard.