How effective are treatments for language-based learning disabilities?
The SLP consults with both educators and parents to teach and model language activities that promote success. He or she may:
- Explain the importance of joint book reading and provide demonstration lessons. For example, the SLP may illustrate how to improve students vocabulary skills by having children name items in story pictures and describe the action(s) in these pictures.
- Model how to sharpen comprehension skills by asking questions related to a story plot and having the child predict what may happen next in the story.
- Have the child retell a story in his or her own words or act out the story.
- Teach how to increase the child's awareness of print in his or her environment (e.g., recognition of frequently encountered signs and logos) and the conventions of print (e.g., how to hold a book or how reading and writing are done from left to right).
- Demonstrate strategies to teach letters and their corresponding sounds.
- Show ways that teachers and parents can model literacy activities (e.g., by reading newspapers and magazines, by writing notes and letters, or by making writing materials available for everybody's use).
Learning problems should be addressed as early as possible. Many children with learning disabilities that are treated later, when language demands are greater, experience lowered self-esteem due to their previous academic frustrations and failures. Learning problems that go untreated can lead to a significant decrease in confidence, school phobia (i.e., not wanting to go to school, not wanting to do homework), and depression.
ASHA produced a treatment efficacy summary on child language disorders [PDF] that describes evidence about how well treatment works. This summary is useful not only to individuals with language learning disabilities and their caregivers but also to insurance companies considering payment for much needed services for language disorders.
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What does a speech-language pathologist do when working with individuals with a language-based learning disability?
ASHA has developed the following documents that outline the role of the SLP in working with children with learning disabilities and reading and writing problems:
Additional information about reading and writing skills (literacy) can be found on ASHA's Literacy Gateway.
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See Also:
Language-Based Learning Disabilities
Language-Based Learning Disabilities: Causes and Number
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