Developing Speech and Language Skills - Noel's ESL eBook Library

Phoneme FactoryThe literacy curriculumLearning to read and write an alphabetic script such as English depends on intactunderlying speech and language skills. Children with speech impairments may beslower than their peer group in grasping the fundamentals that are part of the earlyliteracy curriculum. The ability to think about the syllables and sounds in spokenwords, as required in the literacy strategy at age four to five, may not be developed untilmuch later in children with speech impairments, and they are therefore at risk ofhaving literacy difficulties.The broad curriculumChildren are expected to begin the Foundation stage of education with the ability tofollow verbal instructions, and speak clearly. This is important because all aspects of thecurriculum depend on children having the ability to understand and use language.Children who have difficulty making themselves understood are disadvantaged acrossthe whole curriculum, not just in the speaking, listening and literacy components. Theability to speak intelligibly is also necessary as children develop relationships with peersthrough verbal interactions and co-operative play.The social curriculum and wider contextThere is evidence that children with speech, language and communicationimpairments are more likely to have psychological, behavioural and emotionalproblems. They tend to have lower self-esteem, and are perceived less favourably bytheir peers. This is the case even when difficulties are relatively mild. Several recentstudies have shown that even when speech and language difficulties have apparentlybeen resolved, a poorer performance in speech, language and literacy skills is sometimesstill evident in adolescence and into adulthood.What is a speech impairment?The child with a speech impairment is usually conspicuous because of the way he orshe talks. Here are some examples. Just read the written words spoken by the child inthe speech bubbles normally and you will probably get the message.14