Reading and Writing Development in Orange County
Speech-Language Pathologists are the “language specialists”. Reading and writing are the highest form of language. Language is involved not just in reading and writing but all academic areas.
These skills are the ultimate goal for all students and have the immense impact on their academic success and job opportunities. The ability to read begins at the earliest stages of language development with the ability to look at a book and point to said pictures.
Answering questions and retelling a story with proper sequence are also pre-literacy skills. By the time a child reaches Kindergarten, warning signs begin to appear. These signs, when overlooked can lead to struggles with reading, writing and other academic areas.
In 2011, the American Educational Research Association presented a study that revealed that a student who can’t read on grade level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time.
- Late talking and/or highly unintelligible speech
- Difficulty following directions or routines
- Needs repetition or says “what” frequently
- Trouble finding words
- Confuses common words (lunch for breakfast, up for down)
- Struggles with rhyming games
- Difficulty connecting/recalling letter/sound correspondence
- Slow to learn new information, relies heavily on memorization
- Makes consistent reading and spelling errors