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How to Promote Language Development & Early Literacy in Children...
Issue VIII: July, 2009
Click below to discover:
What is Emergent Literacy?
Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development
Ways to Nurture Your Child's Language Development
Learn Who is at Risk
What Are The Red Flags?
What Can Speech-Language Therapists Do?
What Can You do?
PRESENTING...
CSC's New Fall Parent/Teacher Workshop
The Building Blocks for Successful Communication & Literacy for Children Ages 0-5!
Learn about the developmental milestones, red flags and what you can do as a parent or teacher to equip children ages 0-5 for lifelong reading success.
Come and learn developmentally sound activities and build confidence in your knowledge to guide your child/student's development and learning.
Learn what emergent literacy is and how to foster the development of emergent literacy skills in your child at home. Learn signs to look for and how to nip reading challenges in the bud.
Keep an eye out for CSC workshop dates!!
Call CSC at
(310) 899-9597
to schedule this workshop at your school!
Resources
The Beginnings of Literacy
Joan Brooks McLane and Gillian Dowley McNamee, Erikson Institute
Children's Play: The Roots of Reading
Edward F. Zigler, Dorothy G. Singer, & Sandra J. Bishop-Josef
Talking Toddlers: Language Development Through Reading
Audrey Prince, M.Ed.
Parents Advised on How
to Detect Communication Disorders in Their
Children
ASHA: May 12, 2008
ABC’s of Reading Acquisition: Promoting Literacy Skills at Home
Lisa Priddy, M.S., CCC-SLP
Strengthen Early Literacy Skills and Generate a Love of Reading in Young Children
Kelly Faulkenberry Cheek, MSP, CCC-SLP & Keri Spielvogle, MCD, CCC-SLP
Building a Foundation for Reading and Writing: Birth through Preschool
Suzie Hill, M.Ed.
Strengthen Early Literacy Skills and Generate a Love of Reading in Young Children
Kelly Faulkenberry Cheek, MSP, CCC-SLP & Keri Spielvogle, MCD, CCC-SLP
Visual and Auditory Processing Disorders
National Center for Learning Disabilities (1999)
Tools For Raising Healthy Children
Dr. Charlotte Reznick Ph. D
(Imagery For Kids)
Quick Links
Child Success Center
American Speech-
Language-Hearing Association
SuperDuperInc.com
LD Online
Family Resources
Parenting Pathways
Betsy Brown Braun
(310) 459-9209
www.parentingpathways.com
Empowered Parenting
Kim DeMarchi & Melanie Prager
(310) 458-0007
www.empoweredparenting.com
Sleepy Planets
Jill Spivack & Jennifer Waldburger
(Sleep Consultants)
(310) 573-9474
www.sleepyplanet.com
NutritionWise
Nicole Meadow
(Dietician Specializing in Pediatrics & Young Adults)
(818) 304-1876
www.nicolemeadow.com
Pump Station & Nurtury
Santa Monica
(310) 998-1981
Dr. Erika Carpenter Rich
(Clinical Psychologist- Parenting & Social Skills Training)
(310) 709-6427
Amazing Kid Company LA
(818) 981-4321
Developmental Pediatricians
Dr. Anshu Batra
(310) 996-8990
Dr. Audrey E. Greisbach
(310) 996-8990
Dr. Diane Danis
(626) 792-2711
Dr. Alessia de Paola
Gottlieb
(310) 358-2822
Child Success Center's Featured Referral:
Academic Success
Academic Success is dedicated to providing outstanding in-home coaches to support every type of student while empowering parents with customized feedback after each session.
Many of our clients are top level students who need extra support for their most rigorous classes. Others struggle to succeed at school and need instruction across the variety of subjects and college entrance test prep.
Academic Success coaches support the academic needs of every type of student. After every Academic Success coaching session, parents receive a detailed report about what work was accomplished as well as insight into the student’s overall progress. These reports can be also shared with Ed Therapists so they can provide input and help direct the academic coaching sessions.
For more information on how the Child Success Center's expert team of occupational, speech and language, and educational therapists can help your child achieve success, please call us today at
(310) 899-9597!
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Literacy Begins at Birth!
Building Blocks for Early Communication & Literacy in Children, Ages 0-5 Years!
Written by Chelsi Watson, M.S, CCC-SLP, &
CSC Speech Therapist
What is emergent literacy?
Emergent Literacy is defined as the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to reading and writing. Emergent literacy is typically acquired in preschool and kindergarten with some phonemic awareness skills acquired in early first grade. There are several components to emergent literacy including letter knowledge, concepts about print, phonological awareness, writing, and more. Emergent literacy knowledge paves the way for the development of critical literacy skills, like reading, spelling and writing.
When should I begin preparing my child to learn to read?
The first stage of literacy development occurs from the time a child is born until they are four or five years old. During this period of “emergent literacy”, children become aware of the world of print and sound. You are probably already teaching your child basic reading skills, even if you are unaware.The importance of written language is demonstrated through naturally occurring experiences in the home and preschool or daycare environments, such as watching mom make a grocery list, and learning to recognize the letters and colors of a stop sign (Roth, Worthington, 2005).
Are spoken language and literacy connected?
YES! Spoken language is the foundation for the development of literacy skills. The experiences with talking and listening gained during the toddler and preschool years prepare children to learn to read and write. This means that children who enter school with weaker verbal abilities are much more likely to have trouble learning to read and write.
Phonological awareness, the recognition that words are made up of separate speech sounds, is one skill that is very strongly connected to reading and writing success. Phonological awareness skills include, but are not limited to: rhyming, blending sounds (e.g., combining the separate sounds b, a, and t into bat), alliteration (e.g., big bouncy bubbles), and isolating sounds (e.g., c is the first sound in cat). Children who perform well on these tasks are less likely to have difficulty learning to read.
What are some signs that my child IS developing emergent literacy skills?
Activities such as pretending to read and write from books show that children understand messages that are conveyed through print. After listening to stories from their parents and teachers, they may begin to produce their own narratives and act them out. Some children may point out familiar logos and words in their surrounding environment.
Who is at risk?
Children with language impairments often experience great difficulty acquiring literacy skills. Other risk factors include: having a developmental disability, having a parent with a history of a reading disability, speaking a language that is different from the local academic curriculum, and/or living in a household where experiences with oral and written language are infrequent. Signs that your toddler may struggle with reading in the future include lack of interest in nursery rhymes or shared book reading, difficulty following simple directions, difficulty learning the names of letters, and failure to recognize or identify letters in the child’s own name (ASHA, 2008).
- Nearly 50% of children enter kindergarten with at least one serious risk factor that may negatively affect academics (Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, & Cox, 2000).
- The best predictor of end-of-kindergarten literacy skill is beginning-of-kindergarten literacy skill (Walpole, Chow, & Justice, 2004).
- The likelihood that a poor reader in first grade will stay a poor reader through fourth grade corresponds to a probability of .88 (Juel, 1988).
What are some red flags that my child or student is not developing emergent literacy skills?
0-3 Months:
• By 3 months, not tracking objects by sound or sight
4-6 Months:
• Non-responsive to sounds or familiar voices
• Child does not babble or there is a noticed decrease in babbling
• Does not mouth objects
• Low attention to human faces
7-12 Months:
• Does not say early sounds like “ma”, “na”, “da”, “ba”
• Does not point or gesture by 12 months
12-18 Months:
• Does not say first words or use a variety of speech sounds
• Dislikes nursery rhymes, tickling, bouncing, etc.
• Does not manipulate books or drawing materials like other toddlers his/her age
• Does not point to objects on request
18- 24 Months:
• Demonstrates late talking compared to other children of his/her age
• Develops vocabulary at slower rate than other children of his/her age
• No interest in pencil or marker play
• Does not engage in play reading
By 3 Years:
• Unable to recite rhymes
• Difficulty understanding “one” and “many”
• Demonstrates pronunciation difficulties: dropping/adding/substitution of sounds
• Poor recognition of environmental print: traffic signals, bathroom signs, etc.
By 4 Years:
• Difficulty copying a circle
• Delayed picture labeling
• Difficulty listening and responding to a story for 10 minutes
• Does not make up rhyming words
By 5 Years:
• Demonstrates poor grammatical structure in speech
• Cannot identify some alphabet letters
• Difficulty counting to 5 in imitation
• Cannot break simple two-syllable words into parts
• Confuses well known basic words (want, eat, go)
• Unable to make up rhyming words
Who can help?
Speech-language pathologists! Research emphasizes the need to prevent reading problems through emergent literacy intervention. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can identify children at risk for reading and writing difficulties and provide intervention to remediate literacy-related difficulties. The intervention will be a collaboration between the parents, teachers, caregivers, and the SLP.
What Can Parents Do?
You can help your child develop literacy skills during regular activities without adding extra time to your day. There are also things you can do during planned play and reading times. Show your children that reading and writing are a part of everyday life and can be fun and enjoyable. Activities for preschool children include the following*:
- Talk to your child and name objects, people, and events in the everyday environment.
- Draw your child's attention to print in everyday settings such as traffic signs, store logos, and food containers.
- Introduce new vocabulary words during holidays and special activities such as outings to the zoo or the park.
- Engage your child in singing, rhyming games, and nursery rhymes.
- Read picture and story books that focus on sounds, rhymes, and alliteration (words that start with the same sound, as found in Dr. Seuss books).
- Reread your child's favorite book(s).
- Focus your child's attention on books by pointing to words and pictures as you read.
- Provide a variety of materials to encourage drawing and scribbling (e.g., crayons, paper, markers, finger paints).
- Encourage your child to describe or tell a story about his/her drawing and write down the words (ASHA, 2006)
Click here for tips from Superduperinc.com on how to read to your toddler!
Message from Melissa...
If you have any concerns regarding your child's developmental growth, language development, or learning behaviors, we can help.
Our highly trained and certified multidisciplinary team of speech and language, occupational, and educational therapists at the Child Success Center® is your resource for development and learning concerns. We are here to support you.
Call me at (310) 899-9597 or e-mail me at Melissa.idelson@childsuccesscenter.com for support.
For more information on speech and language development in children including a milestones chart, visit our speech & language page on our website at http://childsuccesscenter.com/programs/prog-therapy/speechlang-therapy.html or call us at (310) 899-9597.
If you have immediate concerns about your child's emergent literacy development, contact the Child Success Center® at
(310) 899-9597
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