The Speech and Language Therapist provides a vital role in identifying those at risk to having difficulties with literacy skills. Literacy skills include pre-reading skills (phonological awareness, basic language skills), reading skills and writing skills.

Children with previous phonological (speech) problems can still have underlying problems that can come back up with literacy skills (more likely to have reading problems later). Children with language delays are missing a grasp of how to use their language for a variety of different literacy tasks.

The Speech and Language Therapist will communicating risk factors to teachers and parents, and work with them to develop programs to help children acquire explicit, age-appropriate knowledge, skills and strategies of the components of language that contribute to reading and writing development.

The Speech and Language Therapist then collaborates with teachers and families to plan intervention goals and activities, as well as modifying curriculum to keep students progressing in the general education curriculum.