When most people think of a speech pathologist, they picture someone helping children pronounce words clearly or working on a stutter. While that’s true, speech pathologists are also trained in supporting your child’s literacy skills. This includes reading, spelling, writing text types (like an information report or recount) and understanding written language. By addressing underlying language skills and providing tailored literacy intervention, speech pathologists can help children become confident, capable readers and writers - setting them up for success in school and beyond.
Why Language Skills Matter for Literacy
Reading and spelling aren’t just about recognising letters. They rely on a complex mix of skills, including:
- Phonological awareness: recognising the sounds in words.
- Vocabulary: knowing the meaning of words.
- Grammar and sentence structure: understanding how words work together and the order of words in a sentence.
- Narrative skills: telling and understanding stories.
If there are gaps in any of these areas, a child might find it harder to keep up with literacy demands at school.
Difficulties children may have with literacy
Some children may face specific challenges that can make reading and writing harder. These may include:
- Difficulty hearing and manipulating sounds in words (e.g., not noticing that “cat” and “cap” differ by one sound).
- Slow or inaccurate decoding (reading). Struggling to sound out unfamiliar words or guessing words instead of applying a reading strategy.
- Difficulties with spelling. Relying on memory to spell words, rather than breaking a word down into its sounds, identifying which letter(s) spell each of those sounds and understanding spelling patterns.
- Limited vocabulary. Having trouble understanding unfamiliar words in texts or using precise words when writing.
- Reading comprehension difficulties. Reading words correctly but not understanding what they mean together.
- Difficulty organising written ideas including with planning, structuring and writing grade-appropriate text types (e.g. a persuasive text or narrative).
These challenges can occur for many reasons, such as differences in language development, diagnoses such as Specific Learning Disorder with Impairment in Reading (formerly dyslexia), or Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), or your child requiring more specific and tailored literacy instruction.
How a Speech Pathologist can help your child with literacy
Speech pathologists can provide targeted, evidence-based support to help children develop their literacy skills. This may include:
- Phonological awareness skills. Activities to help children hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in words - this is an essential skill for decoding (reading).
- Phonics (letter-sound correspondences). Teaching the connection between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes), helps children to sound out unfamiliar words, and support both spelling and reading.
- Vocabulary Development. Expanding a child’s word knowledge to improve reading comprehension and written expression.
- Reading Comprehension Strategies. Helping children make sense of what they read through questioning, predicting, summarising, and making connections.
- Spelling Support. Teaching rules, patterns, and strategies for accurate spelling, rather than relying on memorisation.
- Written Expression Skills. Supporting children to plan, structure and edit a text type, as well as organise ideas and use correct grammar in a text type.
How Inner West Paediatrics Can Help
At Inner West Paediatrics, our experienced speech pathologists work closely with families to assess and support your child’s literacy skills. Whether your child is showing early signs of reading and spelling difficulties or needs support with writing a text type, we’re here to help.
We provide:
- Comprehensive literacy and language assessments
- Individualised therapy plans
- Fun, engaging sessions that build skills and confidence
- Support for parents and carers
- Collaborative, holistic care with other professionals
Our goal is to help your child feel confident and understood when communicating. If you’re unsure whether your child needs support or just want guidance, we’d love to chat.
📞 Reach out to the team at Inner West Paediatrics to book a consultation or learn more on (02) 9560 8905, info@innerwestpaediatrics.com.au or through our website.
