A language gap is occurring, and it’s getting wider, and parents are noticing.
“My child does not have difficulty reading the words, but I am not sure he understands or can make sense of what he is reading”?
Does this sound familiar?
These are exact words from a parent who called me recently to discuss the concerns she had regarding her child’s reading comprehension skills. And she is not the only parent or educator to be concerned: the pandemic has created a language gap that is impacting reading comprehension.
Struggling With Reading: Typical Assessments and Interventions
In most of today’s schools, when a child is struggling in reading, intensive interventions are offered that focus on phonics and decoding. While those two skills are crucial in learning how to read the words and are essential for reading comprehension, they are not the puzzle’s only piece. Reading words without a good foundation in language will result in a weakness in reading, writing, and spelling.
Language Gaps in Kids After Quarantine
A problem that is becoming very apparent following the pandemic is the gap in knowledge due to the language gap that occurred during quarantine. I am currently seeing a lot of children who lack the vocabulary and grammar necessary when reading grade-level material.
Why?
They missed out on a year and a half of language learning in the classroom.
Oral Language Acquisition is a Building Block for Reading Comprehension
Think about those themed play days in the kindergarten room, the read-aloud at the school, the conversations on the playground; they all matter in oral language acquisition, which is a building block for reading comprehension.
Example: Listening Skills
Take listening skills as an example. Children learn how to put words together correctly into sentences and vocabulary when listening to what is happening around them. They then bring this background knowledge to make connections and understand what they read. When these skills are weak, it reflects in what they are reading.
Oral Language Proficiency is a Critical Predictor of Reading Comprehension
Research shows that oral language proficiency across the primary grades is a critical predictor of how well students will comprehend what they read, even years later (Foorman, Herrera, Petscher, Mitchell, & Truckenmiller, 2015).
What kind of learning growth matters most?
I assure you that the change that needs to happen to close the knowledge gap following the pandemic will not be found in one curriculum.
Should Schools Just Buy a Better Reading Curriculum?
Spending money for a “better curriculum” will lead to kids who can only answer questions about the knowledge someone selected for them.
Our future depends on kids who are fully empowered to ask their questions and participate in increasingly complex dialogue with others.
Fix the Language Gap by Building Strong Readers
If we want to build strong readers who can acquire, critique, and create their knowledge as they grow, then language development should have a larger school footprint.
My work is solution-focused and results-driven. I have been a certified speech language pathologist for the past 27 years. My clinical experience and a dual master’s in communication disorders and specific learning disabilities give me a deeper understanding of language acquisition’s critical role in today’s students.
Hire Kyra Minichan for an Evaluation
When I evaluate your child, my goal is to find the root of the problem, offer a solution, and change the trajectory of how your child learns.
Do you have questions?
Schedule a free 10 Minute phone call with me and let me answer your questions.