What if my child's speech sounds are also difficult?

This is one situation where an SLP assessment can be particularly helpful.

Some children have difficulty producing speech sounds or organizing the sound system of their language. For example, they may continue to use patterns such as saying one sound for another, leaving sounds out of words, or having speech that is difficult for others to understand.

Speech sound difficulties and literacy difficulties can sometimes occur together.

This doesn't mean that every child with a speech sound disorder will have trouble learning to read. It does mean that when a child has both speech-sound and literacy concerns, it can be useful to look carefully at the underlying sound and language skills.

At Passage, I can look at these areas together rather than treating them as completely separate problems.

What about dyslexia?

If your child is struggling to learn to read, you may have come across the term dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty involving reading and related language skills. Children with dyslexia can have significant difficulty learning to read words accurately and fluently, despite having appropriate learning opportunities.

A child does not need to have a dyslexia diagnosis before seeking help.

If you're concerned about your child's reading or spelling, an SLP assessment can help explore relevant speech, language, and phonological skills and identify areas that may be contributing to their difficulties.

An SLP assessment is not necessarily the same thing as a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment for dyslexia or a learning disorder. Depending on your child's situation, other professionals may also be an important part of the assessment process.

You don't need to figure out which professional you need before you reach out. We can start with the concerns you're seeing and determine what would be most appropriate.

What does an SLP assess?

An assessment is individualized because children can arrive at the same reading difficulty for very different reasons.

Depending on your child's age and concerns, I may look at areas such as:

• Speech sounds: How your child produces and organizes the sounds of speech.

• Phonological awareness: How your child notices and works with the sounds within spoken words.

• Language: How your child understands and uses words, sentences and language to communicate and learn.

• Vocabulary and verbal reasoning: The language knowledge that supports understanding and learning.

• Reading-related skills: Depending on the child's age and needs, this may include aspects of early literacy, decoding and word reading.

• Spelling and written language: How your child’s spoken language and sound-based skills relate to spelling and writing.

The goal isn't simply to give you a list of scores.

The goal is to understand your child's strengths and difficulties and explain what those results mean for learning.

What if my child is already working with a tutor?

That's often a good thing.

SLPs and literacy specialists can have different but complementary areas of expertise.

A literacy tutor or reading specialist may provide structured instruction to help a child develop reading and spelling skills. An SLP can assess and address underlying speech and language skills that may be affecting that learning.

For some children, the most helpful approach is collaboration.

For example, a child may be receiving structured literacy instruction but continuing to struggle with phonological awareness, speech sounds, vocabulary or language comprehension. In that situation, an SLP may be able to identify additional areas that need attention.

You don't necessarily have to choose between literacy support and speech-language therapy.