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Just like reading, there are many possible areas of difficulty that can lead to a written language delay. Here are some of the most likely possibilities that would affect a child’s literacy development.

Poor letter to sound correspondence and phonological awareness

Once again, an understanding of the link between the letters and their paired sounds or letter to sound correspondence is crucial in writing. This is because the individual needs to be able to sound out each sound within a word, convert it to letters, which form words and sentences in their written work. Phonological awareness or ability to identify individual or groups of sounds is also necessary for this same process to occur. Children who have trouble in this area would benefit from phonological awareness training or The Spalding Program.

Poor verbal production

When writing a passage, a child is expected to not only encode (write each individual sounds to make a word) but also produce each word to make a sentence, which they must then tie together to create an entire story. Underpinning all of this is the child’s ability to produce verbal language. This is because if a child is not able to produce a spoken story then even if they are able to encode the symbols into words, if they are unable to produce coherent verbal sentences, then what they produce is a string of incoherent sentences or a passage that may be ordered incorrectly or make no sense. For these children we recommend specific expressive language therapy, depending on the level where language production has broken down.

Poor planning and structure

When writing a passage, an individual is required to plan ahead of time, what points they wish to make within their writing. This is even more essential when writing than when speaking, as the individual does not always have the opportunity to correct their work later (e.g. during an exam). The individual also needs to have a solid understanding of the different text types such as a persuasive essay vs. a narrative as each text type has its own specific structure, which must be follow, in order to properly convey the message intended.

These are some of the areas a speech pathologist assesses, in order to determine the individuals area of weakness. This allows us to provide the correct intervention that will have the greatest benefit for literacy development.

Contact us for results focused on speech therapy

This article was written by our Speech Pathologist Ashleigh Fattah who is a Speech Pathology Australia member. If you have questions about language activities, make an appointment. We‘ll provide you with simple and effective therapy targeted to your concerns. Contact us today.

The post Possible causes for literacy delays Part 2: Writing appeared first on ENT Wellbeing Sydney.

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If you have visited a speech pathologist before for either yourself or your child, they may have talked about the ‘traditional’ approach to ‘articulation therapy’ and you may have wondered what this actually means. There is no single definition for this approach as it often includes a number of techniques and what the term encompasses differs from clinician to clinician, however there are a few general principles that are commonly seen through this approach.

Procedures

The speech pathologist guides the individual through a series of carefully sequenced and graded steps, usually one sound at a time (e.g. the ‘s’ sound) and in one place at a time (e.g. at the start of a word such as ‘star’) . The procedure starts with sound training where the individual is required to recognise the sound and differentiate between the target sound and the error sound, and increases in complexity until finally, the phoneme is used in spontaneous conversational speech, and the emphasis moves to self-monitoring.

While the steps in-between sometimes vary, most versions of the traditional approach place discrimination of sounds produced by another individual as the first step, as seen in Berry and Eisenson (1956), Carrell (1968), Garrett (1973), Sloane and Macaulay (1968) and of course, Van Riper (1978), who wrote:
“The hallmark of traditional therapy lies in its sequence of activities for: (1) identifying the standard sound, (2) discriminating it from its error through scanning and comparing, (3) varying and correcting the various productions until it is produced correctly, and finally, (4) strengthening and stabilizing it in all contexts and speaking situations.” Van Riper, 1978 p. 179

Techniques

The techniques used to elicit a sound vary from verbal prompting which can include modelling of the sound or specific instruction on where to place the structures of the mouth all the way through to physical prompting which can include physical movement of the articulators into the correct position for sound production. Powers (1971) describes some of the procedures that have characterised traditional speech-language pathology assessment and intervention for functional speech disorders (articulation disorders). Powers states that the ‘stimulus methods’ developed and described by Travis (1931) remains at the core of most treatment methodologies used by speech-language pathologists to date.

Many resources for the traditional articulation therapy approach continue to be designed and published today and can easily be accessed on websites such as Dr Caroline Bowen’s www.speech-language-therapy.com.

Contact us for results focused on speech therapy

This article was written by our Speech Pathologist Ashleigh Fattah who is a Speech Pathology Australia member. If you have questions about language activities, make an appointment. We‘ll provide you with simple and effective therapy targeted to your concerns. Contact us today.

The post What is Articulation Therapy? appeared first on ENT Wellbeing Sydney.

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There many possible areas of difficulty that lead to a literacy delay, and while this should not be taken as an exhaustive list, here are some of the most likely possibilities that would affect a child’s literacy development, specifically with reading.

Poor letter to sound correspondence

This one is the most obvious and is often easily picked up at school, however not as easily rectified. Understanding the link between the letters and their paired sounds or letter to sound correspondence is common in individuals with dyslexia. For these individuals, it takes a lot more intervention that the amount provided at school. For these children especially, specialised techniques such as The Spalding Program are recommended.

Poor phonological awareness

Phonological awareness refers to the representation of sounds in our brain and the ability to manipulate these sounds. For example, in the word ‘CLAP’, there are 4 sounds the ‘C’, ‘L’, ‘A’ and ‘P’. For a child with poor phonological awareness, it may be hard to distinguish the ‘CL’ cluster into two different sounds and therefore they may leave of one sound and instead read the word as CAP instead. For these children, phonological awareness training is recommended to improve their ability to read and spell a range of word types.

Poor verbal comprehension

When reading a passage, a child is expected to not only decode (sound out individual sounds to make a word) but also string each word together to understand a sentence, which they must then tie together to understand the story in its entirety. Underpinning all of this is the child’s ability to understand verbal language. This is because if a child is not able to understand a spoken passage then even if they are able to decode the symbols into the words and sentences, if they are unable to process these words and sentences, then they cannot decipher meaning from it. For these children we recommend specific receptive language therapy, depending on the level where understanding has broken down.

These are some of the areas a speech pathologist assesses, in order to determine the individuals area of weakness. This allows us to provide the correct intervention that will have the greatest benefit for literacy development.

Contact us for results focused on speech therapy

This article was written by our Speech Pathologist Ashleigh Fattah who is a Speech Pathology Australia member. If you have questions about language activities, make an appointment. We‘ll provide you with simple and effective therapy targeted to your concerns. Contact us today.

The post Possible causes for literacy delays – Part 1: Reading appeared first on ENT Wellbeing Sydney.

By

There many possible areas of difficulty that lead to a literacy delay, and while this should not be taken as an exhaustive list, here are some of the most likely possibilities that would affect a child’s literacy development, specifically with reading.

Poor letter to sound correspondence

This one is the most obvious and is often easily picked up at school, however not as easily rectified. Understanding the link between the letters and their paired sounds or letter to sound correspondence is common in individuals with dyslexia. For these individuals, it takes a lot more intervention that the amount provided at school. For these children especially, specialised techniques such as The Spalding Program are recommended.

Poor phonological awareness

Phonological awareness refers to the representation of sounds in our brain and the ability to manipulate these sounds. For example, in the word ‘CLAP’, there are 4 sounds the ‘C’, ‘L’, ‘A’ and ‘P’. For a child with poor phonological awareness, it may be hard to distinguish the ‘CL’ cluster into two different sounds and therefore they may leave of one sound and instead read the word as CAP instead. For these children, phonological awareness training is recommended to improve their ability to read and spell a range of word types.

Poor verbal comprehension

When reading a passage, a child is expected to not only decode (sound out individual sounds to make a word) but also string each word together to understand a sentence, which they must then tie together to understand the story in its entirety. Underpinning all of this is the child’s ability to understand verbal language. This is because if a child is not able to understand a spoken passage then even if they are able to decode the symbols into the words and sentences, if they are unable to process these words and sentences, then they cannot decipher meaning from it. For these children we recommend specific receptive language therapy, depending on the level where understanding has broken down.

These are some of the areas a speech pathologist assesses, in order to determine the individuals area of weakness. This allows us to provide the correct intervention that will have the greatest benefit for literacy development.

Contact us for results focused on speech therapy

This article was written by our Speech Pathologist Ashleigh Fattah who is a Speech Pathology Australia member. If you have questions about language activities, make an appointment. We‘ll provide you with simple and effective therapy targeted to your concerns. Contact us today.

The post Possible causes for literacy delays – Part 1: Reading appeared first on ENT Wellbeing Sydney.

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Communication concerns

If you are visiting a speech pathologist for the first time because you are concerned that your child is not talking as much as their peers. Then, the first thing that will usually happen is your speech pathologist will make a case history. This involves going through your Child’s health and developmental history which may include birthing history, developmental milestones including speech, feeding and motor milestones, other health professionals involved in your child’s care, previous therapy or medical procedures and family and schooling history. This information is gathered to get a full picture of where your child is at developmentally in order to determine the most suitable assessment as well as determine any possible causes or impacting factors for a communication delay.

Once this has been completed, the speech pathologist will conduct a speech and language assessment. This may be done separately, with the speech component focusing on the child’s ability to produce each sound in words and conversation. This is often in the form or a flipbook with pictures used to elicit all of the sounds in the English language. The language component of the speech pathology assessment focuses on a child’s ability to understand as well as produce words, sentences and conversation. This often comes in the form of varying instructions with different concepts such as ‘tall’ vs ‘short’ or ‘before’ vs ‘after’ concepts, word and sentence generation activities as well as some elements of play and gesture for younger children.

Your speech pathologist may do this in the form of a formal assessment, which allows them to compare your child’s scores with standard measures taken from other children who are within the same age bracket as your child. Assessments can also be conducted informally, where the speech pathologist uses their expertise to determine whether your child is tracking, as they should be based on the milestones they have achieved. Both forms of assessment are valid and are often chosen based on what your child is able to sit through. For example, formal assessments tend to be quite lengthy and are better suited to a school age child who is able to sit for long periods at a tabletop. For a younger child, it may be more appropriate to assess informally in a play style interaction to best sustain their attention.

Once the assessment is complete, your speech pathologist will advise you on your child’s current speech and language development as well as whether they feel therapy is warranted.

Contact us for results focused on speech therapy

This article was written by our Speech Pathologist Ashleigh Fattah who is a Speech Pathology Australia
member. If you have questions about language activities, make an appointment. We‘ll provide you with
simple and effective therapy targeted to your concerns. Contact us today.

The post What is involved in an initial speech pathology consult appeared first on ENT Wellbeing Sydney.

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