Is there a relationship between early speech and language disorders and later learning and academic problems?
First I commend you for identifying your child’s speech and language problems early and not waiting until school to see if it will “clear up”. Developmental speech and language problems left untreated can many times be related to later reading, writing, and spelling problems as well as the more obvious problems in oral expression. To learn how to read and write, children must auditorily learn to develop explicit phonological or sound awareness of the consonants and vowels in the English language. Early examples of phonological awareness include knowledge that words rhyme, begin and end with same/different sounds, and that words have a certain number of syllables. This early sound awareness is one of the better predictors of early reading ability. Conversely, if a child has numerous articulation errors and problems with spoken language, it is highly likely that he will have difficulty with printed letters and words. Other problems beyond word recognition include poor processing and deco
