Developmental and Corrective Reading 1

Developmental and Corrective Reading GEDU 5312/Article # 1 Verlin S. Butler July 17, 2006 Nathan, Stachhouse, Goulandris, and Snowling: The Development of Early Literacy Skills Among Children With Speech Difficulties: A Test of the “Critical Age Hypothesis’”Journal of Speech Language, and Hearing Research April (2004). This research article presents a longitudinal study of the early literacy development of 47 children with speech difficulties from ages 4 to 7 years. Of these children, 19 with specific speech difficulties were compared with 19 children with speech and language difficulties and 19 normally developing controls. One study within the article looked at children with speech difficulties had significant difficulty on phonological awareness tasks a 6; 7(years; months) and 7; 7 and the majority displayed literacy problems at 7; 7 (Bird et al., 1995). A range of cognitive factors, including general cognitive ability (IQ), might be expected to protective and environmental variables such as home and school factors will also modify the probability that a speech-impaired child will develop a literacy problem. There are many interventions method that might reduce the risk of, or even prevent, reading failure. According to the „critical age hypothesis, proposed by Bishop and Adams (1990) children who have speech difficulties that persist to the point at which they need to use phonological skills for learning to read are at high risk for reading problems. In contrast Carroll and Snowing (2005) reported that 5- and 6-year-old children in receipt of speech therapy for expressive speech difficulties performed less well than typically developing children matched for verbal ability, and as poorly as children at family-risk of dyslexia, on tests of rime and phoneme awareness and early word recognition. The critical age hypothesis therefore emphasizes the importance of the phonological skills that underpin reading development. The results found in this study suggest that a child‟s oral language skill in preschool is predictive of their later literacy development. The development of phoneme awareness is a critical factor in child reading process. Children with speech difficulties, especially children with more severe and persistent problems are more likely than children with normal speech development to struggle with literacy acquisition. In conclusion, I believe that intervention programs can be and should be implemented to reduce the risk of literacy difficulties in children who are struggling with literacy acquisition. Programs that target the development of phonological awareness can drastically reduce the risk of literacy difficulties and better prepare the student for learning. I agree with the authors finding that a child‟s oral language skill in preschool is predictive of their later literacy development (Nathan, 2004). It is my belief that if a child has poor oral language skill in preschool, his potentials for increasing his vocabulary and reading skills in grade school will also be poor. Therefore, educators need to be well informed of the research that has been proven about literacy programs, and be willing to modify their instructional styles to meet the needs of students at risk of literacy difficulties.