Literacy Conference

For Immediate Release

Contact: Amy Starck 716-885-8318

 

 

 

 

 Communication is the foundation of human interaction. Literacy, as a component of communication is a necessary life skill for child and adult alike. Educational, social, and vocational success is influenced by an individual’s literacy status. Our ability to read and communicate is a functional right that every child and adult is entitled to. Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center is a leader in providing language and literacy interventions to help children and adults learn to read. 

 

Speech and Language Professionals from across America will be converging in Buffalo on February 18 & 19^th to attend a Literacy Seminar being offered by Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center (BHSC). BHSC staff will be teaching attendees the tenets and mechanics of their highly successful Language to Literacy Program. 

 

Several years ago, Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center developed a curriculum based literacy intervention for children ages 5-16, aimed at helping those who were having learning problems and experiencing reading failure. Steeped in the belief that reading deficits are at the core, speech problems, staff set out to develop a hierarchical clinical/educational program that would help children “get back to basics” for developing the skills and strategies necessary to help remediate reading difficulties. The program initially begun as a Summer Institute, has now evolved into a year round program offering several phases of literacy intervention.

 

Literacy interventions should be made as soon as possible, preferably at the pre-school level, but, successful change can be accomplished with effective literacy programs offered at any developmental age. Children and adults can make remarkable advances in literacy functioning when exposed to focused approaches that begin by explicitly teaching basic language skills in a hierarchical manner. Auditory processing, phonological awareness, phonics, and receptive/expressive language are components of literacy intervention that must be presented in a cogent, systematized approach. 

 

 

As many as 40% of America's third graders cannot comprehend grade-level text (Campbell, Donahue, Reese, & Phillips, 1996). For these students, the gap widens as the school years progress (Stanovich, 1986). Children who come from environments that are not language- and print-rich are considered at-risk for reading failure (Adams, 1990; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998) and are likely to score well below their peers on measures of achievement in elementary school (Hart & Risley, 1995). Snow et al. argued that literacy acquisition begins prior to entering school and relies on "letter knowledge, phonological sensitivity, familiarity with the basic purposes and mechanisms of reading, and language ability" (Snow et al., 1998, p. 137). Research further suggests that by the end of the third grade, children who are not fluent readers may never

 

The preschool years, particularly formal preschool experiences, are viewed by many as a way of ensuring that children gain prerequisite literacy skills and progress in their literacy development (Snow, Barnes, Chandler, Goodman, & Hemphill, 1991). Indicators of possible reading difficulties can be identified as early as preschool (Adams, 1990), making ages three and four years a key period for identifying children who need supplemental instruction and enhancing the literacy experiences of those children, thus reducing the chances of later illiteracy. 

 

Further, both practical experience and research indicate that there is a relationship between oral language impairment and reading disabilities. Many of the children who experience reading problems in school are also on the case loads of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). A number of studies have documented that young children with language impairment are at a higher-than-average risk of demonstrating later reading disabilities (Aram, Ekelman, & Nation, 1984; Aram & Nation, 1980; Catts, 1991, 1993). Several studies indicate that language impairment may be a basic discrepancy that affects language function in both its oral and written forms.

 

Outcomes for children who have attended this program have been consistently positive. Comparison of pre and post testing for all participants shows remarkable growth in reading competencies including comprehension. In addition, students who have attended this program have demonstrated improved self concept which has translated into improved overall academic performance.

 

          Self-esteem theory and educational practice literature is replete with references to how learning, and in particular reading, can affect a child’s view of his or her abilities. An individual’s self-concept has long been believed to be a motivating or defeating force in how a child learns and achieves in school. In many cases Special Education needs, in combination with literacy issues, coalesce as a potent force to negatively affect a child’s academic performance. Coopersmith in 1965 reported that children’s self-concept predicted a child’s ability to read in first grade at least as well as measures of intelligence. Covington, 1989 documented that as the level of self-esteem increases, so do achievement scores; and as self-esteem decreases, so does achievement. Furthermore, and perhaps most important, he concluded that self-esteem can be modified through direct instruction and that such instruction can lead to achievement gains.

 

          

 It is generally accepted belief that self-concept is learned. Because self-concept does not appear to be instinctive, but is a social product developed through experience, it possesses relatively boundless potential for development and actualization. Successful learning experiences, particularly in the area of reading, can help a child begin to develop confidences and competencies that a child can than generalize into broader learning encounters.  

 

          The Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center’s Language to Literacy Program was developed with the belief that most often literacy problems are rooted in language discrepancies, and in order to read fluently with accurate comprehension, you need to have firm fundamental skills in several basic areas. The program philosophy is that you must go “back to the basics” of several areas which compose “language literacy” in order to have age appropriate reading skills and be successful in the classroom. These areas include: auditory processing, or what you do with what you hear (i.e. the ability to attend to and retain auditory information) phonological awareness, or the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds of spoken language, as well as the ability to rhyme, and identify words, syllables, and sounds; phonics, or having a firm grasp of the letters and spellings which represent sounds in written language; and expressive (use of) and receptive (comprehension of) spoken and written language, including the use of vocabulary, grammar, and concepts. The program and curriculum that we have developed follows a hierarchical progression addressing the above skills. Using interesting, engaging, developmentally appropriate and child oriented teaching methods, the Language to Literacy Curriculum is not only fun for children but highly motivating and instructional.

 

          Parent feedback and tracking has produced hundreds of testimonials to the unique and effective quality of this program. 

 

“My child has improved tremendously. His grades are up, he’s more organized and independent and takes pride in doing it himself. Whatever you did worked!”

“The use of strategies like visualization let my child use his creativity to help him rather than distract him.”

“One of the biggest things was her boost in confidence. She realized others struggle as well, but these are strategies she can use. She still uses her strategies in school- on October 18th she did her homework all by herself and that was the first time.”

  

 

“[Student] had his committee meeting at school and his test scores have very much improved. He continues to need assistance in math but will not be receiving speech and they have no concerns regarding CAP. From his [high school] the Language to Literacy Program got rave reviews, to my surprise even from [student]. They especially liked the binder [student] brought to school. The Special Education Director, grinned and said, “Great, now we have a liaison to BHSC!”

The 2008 Literacy Seminar that BHSC is hosting and presenting will expose participants to key concepts, curriculum areas and operation of the BHSC copyrighted, and highly successful, Language to Literacy Curriculum. Written and presented by Speech and Language Pathologists, the seminar will focus on what is necessary to plan and offer a successful literacy intervention.