Literacy Support
What is literacy support?
Some children struggle with reading, writing, or spelling despite having strong intelligence and being in supportive learning environments. Speech-language pathologists help with the language skills that underlie literacy, including:
- phonological awareness: the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words
- decoding: sounding out words
- reading fluency: reading smoothly and at an appropriate pace
- reading comprehension: understanding what is read
- spelling and written expression
- narrative skills: organizing ideas for writing
The connection between speech, language, and literacy
Reading and writing are language-based skills. Children learn to read by mapping spoken sounds onto written letters. This means that difficulties with speech sounds or language often show up as literacy challenges.
For example:
- a child who struggles to hear the difference between “p” and “b” may confuse these letters when reading and spelling
- a child with limited vocabulary may struggle with reading comprehension
- a child who has difficulty organizing spoken stories may also struggle with written composition
This is why speech-language pathologists are uniquely qualified to address the root causes of many literacy difficulties.
How SLP literacy support differs from tutoring
| Tutoring | SLP literacy intervention | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Curriculum content, homework help, test preparation | Underlying language-based skills (phonological awareness, decoding, comprehension) |
| Approach | Repetition and practice of grade-level material | Targeting the root cause of reading and spelling difficulties |
| Training | Education background | Clinical training in language and literacy science |
| Best for | Children who need extra practice | Children whose difficulties are rooted in language processing |
Both can be helpful. Our service is most valuable when a child’s literacy difficulties stem from weaknesses in phonological awareness, language comprehension, or other underlying skills, rather than simply needing more practice with grade-level content.
Signs a child may need help
Your child may:
- struggle to learn letter sounds or match letters to sounds
- have difficulty rhyming words
- struggle to sound out unfamiliar words
- have trouble retelling stories or explaining what they read
- mix up sounds in words when spelling
- read slowly, inaccurately, or with little expression
- avoid reading
For example, your child may write “decauz” for “because,” struggle to identify that “cat” and “hat” rhyme, or read slowly and lose the meaning of what they are reading.
How speech-language therapy helps
At West End Speech, we provide structured literacy intervention to help children:
- identify and manipulate sounds in words (phonological awareness)
- connect sounds to letters and blend them together for reading (decoding)
- spell words using their knowledge of sound patterns
- tell clear stories with a beginning, middle, and end
- understand what they read through active comprehension strategies
- write organized sentences and paragraphs
Our approach
Our approach follows structured literacy methods backed by the science of reading.
Phonological awareness
We build the foundational ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in words, including rhyming, segmenting, blending, and manipulating individual sounds. This is one of the strongest predictors of reading success.
Systematic phonics
We teach letter-sound connections in a structured, sequential way, moving from simple to complex patterns so the child builds a reliable system for reading and spelling new words.
Comprehension strategies
For children who can decode but struggle to understand what they read, we teach active reading strategies: making predictions, asking questions, summarizing, and connecting new information to what they already know.
Writing support
We help children organize their ideas for writing, build sentences and paragraphs, and apply their spelling knowledge in written work.
What to expect
Assessment
We begin with a thorough assessment of your child’s literacy skills, including phonological awareness, decoding, reading fluency, comprehension, and spelling. We also assess related language skills to understand the full picture.
Therapy sessions
Sessions are structured and follow a logical sequence. Therapy may include multi-sensory activities, games, reading practice, and spelling exercises so your child builds confidence while building skill.
Collaboration with schools
Literacy skills are practiced every day at school. When appropriate, we collaborate with your child’s teacher to ensure that therapy goals and classroom expectations are aligned.
How to get started
If your child is struggling with reading, writing, or spelling, contact us to book an assessment. We offer literacy therapy online across BC and in-home around Vancouver, in English and French.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How are speech therapy and literacy connected?
- Speech-language pathologists have specialized training in the connection between spoken and written language. Difficulties with phonological awareness, a core speech-language skill, are a primary predictor of reading challenges.
- What literacy difficulties do you address?
- We work on phonological awareness, decoding, reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, and written expression.
- Is this the same as tutoring?
- No. Literacy therapy targets the underlying language-based skills that support reading and writing, rather than teaching curriculum content. It addresses the root cause of literacy difficulties.