The Connection Between Speech Sound Disorders and Literacy

We know there are strong connections between literacy, spoken language, and even spelling. Children who have trouble acquiring language are at an increased risk of reading and writing difficulties. Speech therapists play a critical role in literacy development! But did you know there are connections between speech sound disorders and literacy?

Children with speech sound disorders are over 50% more likely to also have reading problems.
(Lewis, et al., 2006)

The ability to hear, process, and produce sounds correctly plays a crucial role in both spoken and written language. When a child struggles with speech sounds, it can also impact their ability to develop essential literacy skills such as reading and writing. Early identification and intervention that target both speech and literacy skills can significantly improve outcomes for children with SSDs.

What Are Speech Sound Disorders?

Speech sound disorders refer to difficulties in producing speech sounds correctly. These disorders can be categorized into two main types:

Articulation Disorders: These involve errors in producing individual speech sounds. For example, a child might substitute “wabbit” for “rabbit” or “thoap” for “soap.”
Phonological Disorders: These involve predictable patterns of sound errors. A child with a phonological disorder may omit the final consonants in words (e.g., saying “ca” instead of “cat”) or substitute one class of sounds for another (e.g., replacing all “k” sounds with “t” sounds, saying “tat” instead of “cat”).

Understanding these distinctions is essential because different intervention approaches are used depending on the type of disorder a child has.

The Connection Between Speech Sounds and Reading

Speech sound skills and literacy development are deeply interconnected. Here’s why:

Phonological Awareness: The ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in words is a foundational literacy skill. Children with SSDs may struggle to identify individual sounds within words, making it harder for them to break words down into syllables or sounds when reading and spelling.
Decoding and Spelling Difficulties: Reading requires children to “sound out” words by mapping letters to their corresponding sounds. If a child has trouble distinguishing or producing certain speech sounds, they may find it challenging to decode unfamiliar words and spell correctly.
Comprehension and Expression: If a child has difficulty producing or recognizing speech sounds, it may affect their ability to understand and use language effectively, leading to challenges in reading comprehension and written expression.

Literacy interventions may include phonological awareness, decoding and word recognition, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing skills.

Speech sound disorders and literacy challenges often go hand in hand, but children can make significant progress with the proper support. Recognizing the link between speech sounds and reading allows us to implement targeted strategies that promote clear speech and strong literacy skills. By addressing these challenges early, we can help children develop the communication skills they need to succeed in school and beyond.

Interested in a comprehensive resource for literacy intervention?

The Literacy Handouts is a comprehensive resource explains the skills required for language and literacy and how to work on them with effective literacy interventions.

Feel confident knowing the SLP’s role in literacy intervention and how to implement literacy-based speech therapy sessions. Use the developmental milestones, information pages, visuals, and graphic organizers for effective speech therapy sessions.

It contains 60 pages of handouts, information, interventions, visuals, and graphic organizers. Topics inlcude stages of literacy and narrative development, narrative intervention, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, building vocabulary, reading comprehension strategies, and much more.