Speech Pathologists and Literacy Skills: 22 ideas for skill building activities

When I was in grad school, nobody talked about SLPs needing to involve themselves in literacy skills activities. That's changed, and rightfully so. And so, I am reviving and revising some old posts about literacy skill deficits and skill building at school and at home.

ASHA's stance: "The SLP may help to prevent such problems, identify children at risk for reading and writing difficulties, and provide intervention to remediate literacy-related difficulties."  "Given the fact that SLPs possess a great deal of knowledge of both spoken language (listening and speaking) and written language (reading and writing), we are well equipped to perform a critical role in literacy development in children and adolescents through both providing direct assessment and intervention services."

Reading, writing, listening, and speaking form the four blocks of language development.* To make these engaging and relevant, they must occur within authentic and purposeful tasks. Unfortunately, numerous AAC users and students with disabilities lack access to literacy instruction in authentic settings.

Hence, here's a brief compilation to prompt ideas on offering these opportunities to your students. To account for potential overlapping, I've created a unified list for flexibility in meeting your students' needs.

discuss present or prior experiences/activities

decide options

explore written materials

make a list

compose an email or text

design a poster for a school project, club, or election

welcome others

record in a diary/journal

follow instructions in a recipe, art project, or building task

author a book for a young audience

add a caption to a photo

develop their personal timetable

compose memory jottings

record student presence

follow teacher instructions

respond to questions after listening to a story or informational text

posing or responding to questions

expressing desires

locating things

conversing during transit, at play, in the dining area

handing over notes or documents to the office or fellow teachers

deciphering a menu/selecting lunch

*Teale, W. H., & Sulzby, E. (1986). Beginning

literacy: Reading and writing. Norwood,

NJ: Ablex.

Go ahead back to those great summer reads! More soon.