Is Speech a Red Flag for a Reading Disorder?
A speech sound disorder (SSD) refers to difficulties producing sounds, such as when a child says thun for sun, or wabbit for rabbit. When the child is just producing one sound in error, parents may receive the advice “Don’t worry, he will outgrow it.” However, recent research tells us that even one sound in error might be a red flag for acquiring the foundational skill of phonemic awareness, which is necessary for reading.1 Even a mild speech sound disorder can impact how a child perceives a sound or their understanding of the unspoken rules that govern sound production. This may present itself in the child’s inability to correctly complete phonological awareness tasks like rhyming, blending, and deleting sounds. This can not only impact the child’s ability to decode, but it can also adversely affect their ability to spell. Even if a child with a SSD is saying the sound correctly, they still can be perceiving the sound incorrectly.2 This can have negative consequences for literacy. Research tells us that if a child has weak phonological awareness skills in kindergarten, they will be a weak reader in third grade. So, if we as speech pathologists do not provide treatment or delay treatment until as late as third grade, students may be slipping through the cracks with underlying phonological deficits that get in the way of a child’s ability to decode words accurately or spell words correctly.
Does that mean every child with a SSD is going to have difficulty with phonemic awareness and reading? The answer is no. Researchers have found that 25% of children receiving treatment for an SSD also have a reading disability.3 50% of children with a SSD and/or spoken language disorder also presented with a literacy disorder. In addition, preschoolers with low intelligibility (the ability for speech to be understood by others) were more likely to have problems with literacy in elementary school.4
So as speech language pathologists, what can be done? SSD may affect one phoneme, but that does not mean that the child’s disorder is not complex and has lasting effects. Knowing that children with mild speech sound disorders (single sound errors) may be at risk for difficulties with phonological awareness, decoding, spelling, and social emotional well-being, it is critical an individualized and comprehensive assessment be provided, regardless of the number of sounds a child has in error. Parents play a valuable role in supporting their child’s communication development. Given current information regarding SSD a parent should not adopt the “let’s wait and see if he outgrows this” philosophy and discuss their concerns with a speech language pathologist.
REFERENCES
Tambyraja, S.R., Farquharson, K., & Justice, L. (2020). Reading risk in children with speech sound disorder: prevalence, persistence, and predictors. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00108
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Written Language Disorders. (Practice Portal). Retrieved March 30, 2022, from www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Clinical-Topics/Written-Langauge-Disorders/.
Jin, F., Schjølberg, S., Eadie, P., Nes, R.B., & Røysamb, E. (2020). Preschool speech intelligibility and 8-year literacy: a moderated mediation analysis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_jslhr-19-00394
Brosseau-Lapré, F., Schumacher, J., & Kluender, K.R. (2020). Perception of medial consonants by preschoolers with and without speech sound disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00146
