Language Development to Impact Reading Ability of Children - Article Example

Reading Disabilities/Learning Disabilities Early development stage in a child has a significant influence in affecting the physical, mental, emotional and social development during his/her future years. The ability of the child to learn, compete and socialize with the peers is hindered through various causes, ultimately leading to learning disabilities. The spoken language, cognitive training and development programs have a considerable impact on improving the learning and reading abilities of the child, regardless of his/her disability. Initially, the article gives a brief history of learning disabilities, along with the ways in which the government has supported in providing opportunities for the LD children. We discuss in detail how language development like comprehension and fluency impacts reading ability of children. The strategies and successful reading programs that could be implemented for such children are also elaborated for the readers. Today, effective approaches in cognitive training are provided with right support for assisting the LD children and the problems faced because of their learning disability. However, this was not the same in the past century as learning disability was identified lately. Dr. Samuel Kirk was the first person to introduce the term learning disability in 1963 and defined it as “A learning disability refers to retardation, disorder, or delayed development in one or more of the processes of speech, language, reading, writing, arithmetic, or other school subjects resulting from a psychological handicap caused by a possible cerebral dysfunction and/or emotional or behavioral disturbances.” (Mash & Barkley, 2009, p.602). Starting from 1960s, when the major developments in neuroscience occurred, special education and public awareness to parents regarding learning disabilities in children were initialized. In 1968, LD was accepted as a disability by the US Federal Legislation, and later the national special education was started to provide appropriate requirements for those students with LD. In the 1970s, the civil rights movement gained momentum providing additional rights and welfares to the children with LDs. Moreover, effective identification and intervention methods were introduced to measure the discrepancy between the ability and potential of the child. This helped in effective handling of the LD children for improving their performance in academic and social arena. Later, the National Center for Learning Disability was founded in 1977, which provided public awareness as well as supported research and innovative practices for the LD students. In the subsequent decades, the education community worked to meet the needs of the students with LDs by providing opportunities and early intervention services, which might mitigate the effects of the problems. By the 1990s, there were evident changes in identification and addressing of the learning disabilities among the educational institutions. The Response to Intervention (RTI) movement created considerable impact on the disability identification, by using a proactive approach in special education evaluation. This helped in determining the type of intervention method used for the particular student and analyzing what strategies might help in supporting the specific disability. Finally, the 21th century empowered the special education with assistive technologies and scientific research, advancing the field of learning disability with enhanced intervention and assistance. LD is composed of several disabilities related to different academic domains. So, the US Federal regulations have categorized the heterogeneous nature of LDs into seven varied areas. This includes listening comprehension, oral expression, basic reading skills, reading comprehension, written expression, mathematics calculation and mathematics reasoning. (Fletcher et.al. 2006, p.20). Additionally, these learning disabilities tend to intervene with the child’s social skills, emotional instabilities as well as attention disorders, causing complexity in LD. Hence, a child with LD may have problem in more than one of the mentioned area and this complex phenomenon is referred to as comorbidity. It affects a broad range of functional and academic skills of a child, hindering his/her ability to read, write, spell, speak, reason and organize the observed information. The causes for such learning disability are many; including biological, genetic, hereditary or even environmental factors that might have intervened with the child’s development in his early years. Impact of Childs Language Development on Reading Success Reading disabilities are treated and diagnosed as distinct from other development delays and learning disabilities. It is no surprise that a child with language learning troubles is certainly accompanied with reading disability problems. This is because the language development in a child has a considerable impact on the reading and learning abilities. There are few concrete reasons why oral language impacts strongly on reading ability of a child. Firstly, oral language helps in developing vocabulary concepts which lets the children to gain information about word pronunciation and meanings for understanding other’s speech. Secondly, children learn the structure of language and communications through oral language. Also, children with poor language development have reading disabilities as they are unable to articulate their thoughts and words clearly. Finally, oral language development aides in reading comprehension and thereby increases social negotiations. So, when oral language development is hindered, it directly impacts the abilities of the child to read, learn and write. It is acceptable that spoken language is an effective tool that masters the children in acquiring specific knowledge regarding the forms of language, vocabulary, sound structure of the words, and grammatical sentence structures. Additionally, it benefits social competence, allowing the children to be a successful listener and speaker in the context of social communications. Researches have confirmed that reading ability in brain is superimposed on language development of the child. The phonological processing ability, morphology, pragmatics and discourse are certain key areas where oral language has a considerable impact on the child’s learning and reading development. “The phonological-awareness deficits place them at risk for difficulties in learning decoding skills and the comprehension problems place them at risk for reading comprehension problems.” (Tomblin, 2005, p.3). Thus it is evident that spoken language and reading comprehension are closely related to one another, such that language skills are fundamental precursors for reading success among children. Strategies used by Teachers to help Students who Struggle with Reading For children who are struggling with reading problems, the teachers have to introduce and reinforce various strategies that would help them successfully comprehend the learning issues. Studies have found that use of assistive technology as a strategy in different contexts can be an effective method for increasing the general educational success of the LD students in inclusive settings. “Computers and increased technology offer students with disabilities excellent access to information and increased forms of communication.” (Karten, 2008, p.129). There is a wide range of assistive tools available for the individuals with reading disability that facilitate reading fluency, decoding and comprehension. For instance, audio books allow the students with reading problems to listen to text, improving their listening skills and word comprehension. Assistive technology are used to address various types of learning problems such as listening, reading, writing, mathematics, organization and memory. Different tools are used for different problems and in different settings, in accord to the need and functionality. Some of the assistive tools include electronic math worksheets, graphic organizers, optical character recognition, alternative keyboards, portable word processors, speech-recognition programs, speech synthesizers, talking calculators, word-prediction programs and more. When evaluating the assistive technology products for individuals, it is essential to take into consideration several factors regarding the child’s profile and disability. Moreover, the specific needs and challenges of the child, her strengths and weaknesses, ability to comprehend the technology, skill level and other issues are needed to be analyzed before opting for the technology. Thus, assistive technology compensates the children’s area of disability with a References: Clearinghouse, What Works. "Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades." (2009). Fletcher, Jack M. Lyon, Reid. G. Fuchs, Lynn S. Barnes, Marcia A. Learning Disabilities: From Identification to Intervention. Guilford Press, 2006. Karten, Toby J. Embracing Disabilities in the Classroom: Strategies to Maximize Students. Assets. SAGE, 2008. Mash, Eric J., and Barkley, Russell A. Assessment of Childhood Disorders, Fourth Edition. Guilford Press, 2009. Tomblin, Bruce. "Literacy as an Outcome of Language Development and its Impact on Children’s Psychosocial and Emotional Development." University of Iowa, Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, 2005. Read More