Children develop speech and language skills in tandem with reading and writing skills. Delays or difficulties in one area usually affect development in another area. That is why experts providing speech therapy in Harley Street and other London suburbs such as Stratford, Clapham, the City and Belgravia see each area as part of communication development rather than separate skills.
The building blocks of spoken language
For most children, language skills develop first through speaking and listening. Language can be split into receptive language (understanding) and expressive language (speaking).
Words, sentences and conversation are all developed by learning and understanding language. Children acquire vocabulary, grammar, and meaning by hearing language and communicating with others.
If speech is delayed or disordered, or language is disrupted, it can affect how a person processes and organises their thoughts. They may have difficulties following instructions or understanding sentences. They may struggle with complex or abstract language.
Children who experience problems with speaking may carry these difficulties into reading and writing. Early skills form the foundation for literacy so delays can have a knock-on effect later on.
Speech and how it relates to communication development
Speech is the physical act of producing sounds that are used to form words. The three main areas of speech are articulation, voice and fluency.
Speech isn’t language, but the two skills are highly intertwined. For example, a child may have great ideas and a wide vocabulary but find it difficult to communicate verbally. If children struggle to say sounds clearly, it can impact their confidence. They may be reluctant to participate in classroom discussions, limiting their language practice and development.
Children who aren’t understood frequently may start to avoid speaking, which could impact their vocabulary and sentence-building skills. Both of these areas are key to reading and writing.
Reading is a language-based skill
Children don’t simply see written words on a page and automatically know what they say. Reading is an active process that is rooted in language. To read, a child must learn to associate letters with spoken sounds and meaning. Therefore, they need strong language skills to excel at reading.
Children with strong language skills can predict what they’re reading, understand the intricacies of the text, and read between the lines.
If a child’s language skills are weak, they will often struggle with reading comprehension, even if they can technically read words correctly. This is why some kids can read aloud beautifully but can’t answer questions about what they’ve read.
Phonological awareness is another important language skill that impacts reading ability. Without awareness of sounds in words, learning to decode letters and sounds can be difficult.
Writing requires many skills at once
Writing may be one of the most challenging communication skills because it requires you to use so many skills simultaneously.
When writing, a person has to think of what they want to say. They then have to formulate their ideas into language using grammar, punctuation and correct spelling. All of this has to happen while writing sentences and ensuring their meaning is clear.
As speech often provides a foundation for the development of writing, most children learn to speak before they learn to write. If a child struggles to build sentences verbally, they may find the same issues arise when writing.
Sentences may be short and to the point with little detail. Ideas may seem disjointed, and vocabulary may be limited.
Writing also depends upon reading ability. As you read, you learn about sentence structure and different ways of using words and describing ideas. These become embedded in your knowledge, and you unconsciously learn new skills that will one day benefit your writing.
The cognitive links between speech, language, reading & writing
Of course, there are also cognitive elements that connect speech, language, reading and writing. Factors like memory, attention, and processing speed all affect these skills.
Working memory is used to retain information so that you can build sentences when speaking or writing. It helps you process what others say in conversations, as well as what you read in text.
Auditory processing skills affect how we process speech sounds. If someone struggles to process auditory information, they may find speech disorders difficult to overcome. They may also find reading is challenging.
Understanding these cognitive components of communication explains why children rarely struggle in one area without having difficulties in other aspects of communication.
How early support can help
Early intervention can play a big role in helping children develop their communication skills. The sooner support is started, the more time there is to strengthen the underlying skills needed for learning. Intervention may target vocabulary building, sentence structure and phonological awareness.
Speech and language therapy can also help individuals with confidence and social communication skills. These are important for classroom learning and helping kids interact with their peers.
Often, when a child receives support in one area, improvements can be seen in others because they are connected.
As children get older, speech and language therapists will take a holistic approach to their support. If a child is struggling to read, they may start with some speech therapy to rule out any underlying problems.
Literacy skills & oral communicationEducational support often links reading and writing tasks because improvement in one area can lead to improvement in other areas.
Literacy skills & oral communication
Literacy skills and oral communication development occur simultaneously and influence one another.
Children who are read to and engaged in spoken language are likely to enjoy strong reading and writing skills. Children who read often see improvements in their vocabulary and expressive language skills.
The link doesn’t disappear as we get older, either. Strong oral communication skills can lead to academic achievement in education and job performance in adulthood.
Communication difficulties can affect literacy skills, and literacy difficulties can affect how someone communicates.
Speech, language, reading & writing: Connecting the dots
Speech therapy, language skills and reading and writing ability go hand in hand and rely on many of the same processes. Developing your knowledge and ability in one automatically helps you in another, which is why it’s important to understand how they all work together.
By understanding how these core skills are connected, you can better identify where people need more support and be more intentional about how you approach learning them yourself. Speech therapy in London and other locations, uses these connections to help people feel more confident in their speech, language, reading and writing abilities.