As a child, I went to speech therapy each week of first grade to work on articulation. I enjoyed playing board games while learning how to correctly say an /s/ sound. As I entered college, I decided that speech-language pathology would be a fun occupation to pursue. As I entered my studies, I soon found out that speech-language pathologists do a lot more than play Candyland. They work with people of all ages on much more than just articulation, covering a wide scope of skills, including literacy.

Literacy and language have a reciprocal relationship and go hand-in-hand with each other. Language serves as the foundation for reading, spelling, and writing. In turn, we use writing or reading to communicate our thoughts and learn new concepts. When children have difficulty with language, they are at high risk for difficulty in learning how to speak, listen, read, and write.

Areas of focus that are related to literacy include:

- Language Use and Comprehension (vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, social language)

- Phonological Awareness (ability to identify and manipulate sounds in spoken language)

- Auditory Processing

- Word Retrieval

- Reading Comprehension

Speech-language pathologists can be a beneficial part of the student's reading intervention team and, when warranted, can conduct a full assessment to see what areas are in need of therapy.

Ashley Meier

M.A. CCC-SLP