Written Language

Reading, Writing, & Speech Therapy

Even though most people don't think about reading and writing when they think about speech therapy, these written language skills are very much a part of the expertise of a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Reading and writing are essential parts of our language ability and particularly important to your child’s academic success. Here, we will talk about three aspects of written language: decoding, reading comprehension, and written expression.

Decoding

Decoding is the visual process that enables your child to look at a word and glean enough information from what he or she sees to recognize that printed word as distinct and meaningful. Here’s how the process works:

First, when your child encounters a new, unknown word, he or she has to recognize each of the printed symbols (e.g., letters) that represent the spoken speech sounds in that word. This is called the sound/symbol relationship, and it’s very important. Your child will begin by learning the names of the letters, but it’s not enough to know only the ABC names; he or she must also know the sound that goes with each letter or letter combination. 

There are 26 letters in the alphabet (yes, we all know that), but there are 44 speech sounds in the English language. We have many consonant and vowel combinations, such as “sh” and “ir,” in our language, and each has its own special sound. Your child will eventually have to know all of them and be able to determine the differences between them to be a good reader and writer. 

Secondly, your child has to be able to blend the sounds together until he or she recognizes the word and its meaning. Unfortunately, many children learn the name and sound of each letter in isolation, but are unable to blend the sounds to identify or produce a real word. Sometimes, in order to recognize the word, it’s necessary to divide larger words into smaller, more pronounceable parts, or syllables. This is fine as long as your child can then blend those syllables together to identify the word.

Vocabulary plays a very important role in the decoding process because if your child doesn't know the meaning of a word, he or she won’t recognize it once the sounds are blended together; it will just be a bunch of sounds that make no sense. Print words are “mapped” onto your child’s existing language. The order of language development is usually listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This means that if your child doesn't understand (listening) or use (speaking) the word in spoken language, he or she won’t be able to understand (reading) or use (writing) the word in written language. 

Bottom line, decoding is synthesizing all the visual and sound elements of an individual word until the word is recognized.

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is different from decoding. Decoding means your child can recognize and understand the word. Reading comprehension means that your child, as a reader, can understand the meaning of an entire sentence, paragraph, passage, or story.

In order to comprehend what he or she reads, your child will have to have a working knowledge of the rules of grammar and an age-appropriate vocabulary, as well as more complex language skills, such as drawing conclusions and understanding inference and words with multiple meaning. Your child will have to analyze characters and their motives, as well as the setting and the plot of the story. He or she will have to be able to predict and anticipate what might or will happen.

Children must also perceive emotions in characters as they interact with a story. Therefore, reading comprehension also relies on our culture, background, interests, experiences, and attitudes. A child’s ability to comprehend the effects that events of the story might have on the characters is often a reflection of his or her own relationships and ability to interact with both adults and children.

So, you can see that reading is far, far more than just saying words. 

Written Expression

Writing uses encoding, which, you guessed it, is the opposite of decoding. It is translating a thought into a system of letters, words, and sentences so that thought can be expressed. This expression can be oral (speaking), gestural (sign language), or written (writing.) Here, of course, we are focused on encoding messages by writing.

Your child’s writing skills are closely related to his or her narrative or storytelling skills. Remember, you have to be able to tell it before you can write it. All of the language skills that are necessary for expressing thoughts, ideas, and impressions orally are required to be able to express those thoughts, etc., in written form. Your child must have good vocabulary skills, knowledge of grammar, and understanding of social communication because writing is a communication and the writer is the “speaker.” 

As in reading, your child’s cultural influences, attitudes, experiences, and world knowledge will play an important part in his or her writing. Good writing is a challenging and complex adventure for your child.

Postscript

Before we end, I would like to point out, "Reading is reading." The digital age simply gives us others ways to read. We read books, magazines, newspapers, road signs, billboards, labels, and many other things. Computers now allow us to read digitally. The process is the same; it is the medium (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.) that changes. 

The writing process is technically the same; however, the rules of grammar and the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation, are not always honored or expected. And, there is a lot of specialized vocabulary that goes with digital writing.

Schools are moving to increasingly sophisticated digital instruction, and I have every confidence that teachers and administrators are able to move our children between paper print and digital print.

Whatever the medium, language is essential to the social, emotion, and academic development of your child. If you know or suspect that your child may have reading and/or writing deficits or difficulties, don’t hesitate to seek help, because your child’s learning will be impacted if these skills are deficient. Reading and writing are language skills and require language knowledge. Speech-language pathologists are language specialists, and we are here to help.

Contact me at 940-704-4324 for more information.