You may be wondering if your child will have difficulty learning in school because she has had difficulty as a preschooler learning to talk and use language. You are wise to be wondering about this.

A child is at a higher risk of having difficulty learning reading, spelling, and written language if she has (or has had) trouble or difficulty:

• Learning to make speech sounds.
• Speaking as clearly as same-age peers.
• Learning grammar.
• Using vocabulary.
• Organizing what she wants to say.
• Saying what she means to say.

Is every such child going to have academic difficulty? No.

Though there isn't a 1:1 (one to one) correspondence between early speech-language difficulty and eventual academic learning, there is a high correlation between the two, and you are wise to watch more closely than you might for a child who didn't struggle with early speech-language skills. Make sure your child isn't just "passed along" in the early grades (Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3).

Why is there a correlation between these areas of skill development?

Research tells us that dyslexia (reading disorder or disability) derives from language disorder (also called Specific Language Impairment). It was previously believed that people who were dyslexic "saw words backwards" which suggested a visual perceptual impairment. This is not the case for most individuals. Rather than being a visual problem, dyslexia is a verbal or speech-language-based problem.

If a child's speech sound production ability is disordered because the phonological "rules" for sound production are not correct, then the ability to learn the sounds made by letters, the ability to sound out words, the ability to blend the sounds in a word can all be disrupted. Such a child would likely have difficulty spelling correctly, too, because a strong phonetic base would not have been established.

If a child has difficulty learning vocabulary or remembering specific words, if a child makes grammar errors, or if a child's thought processes are disorganized, then organizing thoughts to write down ideas can be very challenging. Learning to write correct sentences with good sequential ideas can be very difficult. This would result in a problem with written language.

What preventative steps can parents take? How can parents help?

First of all, I do recommend preschool for 3 and 4 year old children. Early exposure to learning readiness activities and early interactions with peers in a controlled play and learning environment are good preparation for kindergarten and future school experiences.

Later, as your child grows and develops, he may need extra opportunities to read and write with you. He may need to have a variety of experiences, such as multi-sensory experiences with letters and sounds. He may need to work with a reading or learning specialist in the early school years. Ask at school for an assessment, or seek a private assessment if you think your child is struggling but the school doesn't think there is a significant enough discrepancy in his skills. Why wait for extreme failure? By the second half of the kindergarten year or midyear in first grade, a learning specialist can test your child and identify any signs or symptoms of true learning difficulty.

Early identification is wise. Trust your instincts. Explore your child's learning needs early before he encounters failure.

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