There are several reasons why it is crucial to intervene, and to intervene early:
- Language is the foundation of education and the medium of educational instruction
- Literacy builds on oral language – print is written language
- Numeracy draws on language skills. Arithmetic depends on verbal processes and children need to understand the verbal problems they have to solve
- Language is vital for social and emotional development. Children need to be able to communicate to make friends, to join in activities and to express their feelings
- Language – inner speech – is important for self-regulation and behaviour control
- 7–10% of children have language difficulties at the time of school entry; this is a critical stage for learning to read
- There are two kinds of poor reader: children with poor decoding (often called dyslexia) and children with difficulties in reading comprehension (poor comprehenders). Both groups, and especially those who have problems reading for meaning, have language difficulties
- Without good oral language, a child will not be able to read for academic purposes
- Children with poor oral language are at high risk of educational failure
- Evidence-based interventions can be used to promote language and comprehension skills
languageintervention.com 