As SLPs, we are often sneaking in mini side lessons into our sessions. Many of the children we work with are at risk for having delays in literacy skills. Hanna shares with us some ideas she is learning in graduate school to become a speech pathologist. Enjoy! ~Katie
As a speech-language pathologist, you might not be a reading or literacy specialist, but there’s no reason you can’t support the development of literacy skills with your clients while targeting your main speech and language objectives. Why even worry about literacy? As it was recently explained in my Literacy Disorders course at UW, the Matthew Effect comes into play when it comes to literacy impairments. A child who has early phonological awareness and/or pre-literacy impairments will struggle with the addition of new language skills. This in turn will result in additional literacy delays, since phonological awareness skills serve as the foundation for later reading abilities. On the other hand, children who excel in language and literacy activities will seek out further opportunities to engage in these areas. This practice and engagement will continually lead to improved skills…it’s a cycle, good or bad!
First off, here are a couple easy ways to encourage sight-word learning during any old activity in your clinic room or classroom! Start by making a word highly recognizable and salient by adding a visual cue that links to the word. Over time, fade the visual cue until only the word remains.
Here’s another idea- support phonemic awareness (the sound-level aspect of phonological awareness) during an articulation drill activity: “Let’s make everything start with the /b/ sound!” So, the sentence “The silly dog barks two times” becomes “Ba billy bog barks boo bimes.
One last idea- use dialogic reading tactics to target wh-questions, adjective awareness, pronouns, etc. AND pre-literacy development simultaneously. You can teach kids great literacy foundational skills in print knowledge (how a book/print works) during activities that target early language goals-it’s all in how you frame your activity!
Hopefully these are a few easy ways for you to integrate some basic literacy skills into your already fabulous sessions!
The HannaB GradstudentSLP blog was started in February 2012 by Hanna Bogen, a speech-language pathology graduate student at the University of Washington. The blog is a great resource for students and seasoned therapists alike with everything from iPad app reviews to fun therapy ideas (and lots of witty banter along the way). Hanna currently lives in Seattle, WA and finishes her master’s program in August 2013. You can contact her at hbogen5@gmail.com with questions and comments!
Just curious! How often do SLPs work on literacy (indirectly and directly)?
Well…it depends on the individual SLP, his/her setting (school vs. clinic vs. early intervention), his/her training, and the needs of the students. I work primarily with 3-5 year olds. Children in this age range with speech/language delays are at higher risk for delays in literacy-therefore I often incorporate preliteracy activities within my sessions and give tips to parents on how to target these skills at home in fun ways. Rhyming is one skill I’ll work on with kids who are ready, for example. We will also work on letter ID (the sounds they are working on) as well as the sounds they make. It is not uncommon for those SLPs working with school aged kiddos to mix in similar activities per age/grade level. SLPs are NOT experts in literacy and we don’t typically have goals for literacy…but we compliment regular ed teachers, resource specialists, and reading specialists. Hope that answers your question! 😀
Excellent post Katie! Right now I’m reading Emergent Literacy and Language Development edited by Paula M. Rhyner and your therapy ideas match up nicely with her thinking. 🙂
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