Why should SLPs be concerned about literacy development? How do SLPs fit in?
When children have problems acquiring language, they are at high risk for difficulty in learning to read and write, and to listen and speak. Across the profession, SLPs are asking questions about how to make our services relevant to clients’ functional communication needs. Literacy is perhaps the most important factor contributing to academic and economic success, and also plays an important role in social interactions. SLPs bring knowledge of communication processes and disorders and language acquisition to the literacy table. SLPs also have clinical experience in developing individualized programs for children and adolescents. We are not proposing a sole, or even primary, role for SLPs in literacy development, but are encouraging official recognition of the important and collaborative role that SLPs play. What unique contribution can SLPs make to literacy instruction? SLPs’ knowledge base about language development and acquisition, combined with skill in using diagnostic-prescriptive
