Speech Language Pathologists have always provided assessment and treatment to children with speech, language and communication difficulties.  Speech and oral language development were often the focus of SLPs in the early years of the profession, however, as research into oral language development began to overlap with how written language is learned, SLPs have fulfilled the role of professionals who can assess and treat those children who have difficulties with their literacy skills.  Indeed, with proper screening in Kindergarten and grade one, SLPs can predict those children who will likely need some extra support to crack the code of English.

Unfortunately, educators and parents are not always aware that their school SLP can provide support in this area.  Often teachers need to seek out answers to their questions about students who are struggling to read, and it is only after an exhaustive search that they connect with the SLP at their school.  However, once they do, they invariably laud the collaboration and feel they have the support they require to deal with reading instruction and remediation.

This webinar will outline the services that Speech Language Pathologists can provide to students, their teachers, and families.  It will highlight the connection between oral and written language and outline the language skills (e.g., phonological awareness, phonics, oral receptive language, etc.) that need to be taught to children as young as three and as old as high school, in order to ensure literacy.

Presenter: Corina Murphy is a co-manager of the Speech Language Pathology department at Peel District School Board, the second-largest school board in Ontario.  In her 29 years as an SLP clinician, she provided assessment, treatment, and consultation to children, their families, and, their allied health and educational teams in various settings including Health Units, Hospitals, Children’s Treatment Centres, Boards of Education, Community Care Access Centres, and Private Practices (including her own).  Most recently, she taught courses at the newly-developed Masters of Speech Language Pathology Program at McMaster University, provided services to First Nations in Communities in and around Sioux Lookout, and co-authored a Chapter in a College Textbook, “Developmental Disabilities in Ontario”.