Reading!

This month, we continue to explore the inner workings of speech and language processing and development. One of those “inner workings” is the development of reading skills, which start very early in life and depend a great deal on a child’s early experiences with speech and reading.

It is universally accepted by professionals that the fundamental building blocks of literacy lie in something called “phonological awareness”. We’ll call it PA. PA is, simply put, the way that we can detect, identify and “play” with speech sounds. 

How does PA develop? Time and time again, I’ve talked about the impact that talking to, with and around children has on their language development. These interactions and exposures also play a large role in our literacy development. By being constantly immersed in conversations happening around or with us, we are building our awareness of all the sounds, sound patterns and sound combinations of our language. For example, we become attuned to how syllables are stressed, how to tell words apart within a sentence, and we recognize that a rise in pitch at the end of a sentence can mean we’re being asked a question. These are just examples of the stuff we pick up just by being around people speaking.

Then we have books. Not tablets. Not flashcards. Not YouTube videos. I’m talking about real books. The impact of reading to children using real books cannot be overstated. Reading with children first establishes a positive relationship with literacy. Books can become associated with imagination, fun, laughter and snuggles. A lot of times, it doesn’t matter one bit what’s actually written on a page; what’s more important is building some understanding that those squiggly lines on the page carry some kind of message. It’s also about playing with sounds and sound patterns of speech: That’s why Dr. Seuss books are absolutely fantastic for developing PA!

As always, your Friendly Neighbourhood Speech Pathologist is here to inform and support all things speech and language! 

Mohamed (Mo) Oshalla, MHSc.,
Speech-Language Pathologist & Executive Director,
Ontario Speech & Language Services