Speech and Language Delay in Children: How It Affects Reading and Writing at School in Dubai

Speech and Language Delay: How It Can Affect Reading and Writing Skills at School

When a young child has a speech and language delay, parents often focus first on the child’s ability to pronounce words, form sentences, or communicate basic needs.

These are important concerns. However, speech and language development does not stop being important when a child enters school.

In fact, the language skills a child develops during the preschool years provide an important foundation for later academic learning. Children use language not only to communicate with parents and teachers but also to understand instructions, learn new vocabulary, recognize relationships between sounds and letters, understand stories, answer questions, organize ideas, spell words, and produce written sentences.

This is why a history of speech and language delay can sometimes be associated with later difficulties in literacy, including reading, spelling, reading comprehension, and written expression.

Research on developmental language disorder (DLD) has consistently identified an increased risk of academic difficulties, particularly in literacy-related areas. A systematic review of school-aged children with DLD found difficulties across academic areas, with many studies specifically examining reading, spelling, writing, and narrative skills.

However, there is an important distinction to make:

Not every child who has experienced speech or language delay will develop reading or writing difficulties.

Some children catch up significantly and develop age-appropriate literacy skills. Others continue to have underlying language difficulties that become more visible once academic demands increase.

The purpose of this article is to explain how early speech and language difficulties can influence later reading and writing, what warning signs parents and teachers should watch for, and how speech-language therapy can support children before academic difficulties become more significant.

What Is Speech and Language Delay?

Before discussing reading and writing, it is important to understand what we mean by speech and language delay.

Although the terms speech and language are often used together, they describe different areas of communication.

Speech

Speech refers primarily to how a child produces spoken sounds and words.

A child may have difficulty with:

Producing particular speech sounds
Making speech understandable
Sequencing sounds within words
Pronouncing longer or more complex words
Producing certain sound patterns
Coordinating the movements needed for speech

For example, a child may say:

“tat” instead of “cat”

or simplify longer words in ways that are no longer expected for their age.

Language

Language is broader.

It includes the ability to:

Understand words and sentences
Learn new vocabulary
Combine words into sentences
Use grammar
Tell stories
Answer questions
Explain ideas
Understand concepts
Follow increasingly complex instructions
Understand relationships between words
Use language appropriately in conversation

A child can therefore have a speech delay, a language delay, or difficulties involving both speech and language.

This distinction matters because different underlying difficulties can affect literacy in different ways.

For example, persistent difficulty producing speech sounds may be associated with weaknesses in phonological processing, which can make learning sound-letter relationships more difficult. Research examining speech sound disorders and reading has highlighted phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and language as interconnected foundations for word reading.

A child with broader language difficulties may have additional challenges with vocabulary, grammar, narrative language, reading comprehension, and written expression.

Why Does Oral Language Matter for Reading and Writing?

One of the most important concepts for parents to understand is that reading and writing do not develop independently of spoken language.

Children generally begin learning about language through listening and speaking long before they formally learn to read and write.

Before a child reads a sentence such as:

“The boy is running in the park.”

the child needs to have some understanding of words such as boy, running, and park, as well as the grammatical relationship between those words.

Similarly, when a child writes:

“The boy is running.”

the child needs more than handwriting ability.

The child needs to:

Know what they want to communicate.
Retrieve appropriate vocabulary.
Organize the idea.
Construct a grammatically appropriate sentence.
Break words into sounds.
Select appropriate letters.
Understand spelling conventions.
Sequence the written information.
Review whether the sentence makes sense.

This is why difficulties in spoken language can sometimes become more apparent when a child enters school.

A child who seemed to have only a “small speech problem” at age three may later struggle with spelling, sentence construction, story retelling, reading comprehension, or written assignments.

The underlying issue may not be the child’s intelligence or motivation.

Instead, the child may have difficulty with one or more of the linguistic processes that support literacy.

The Developmental Pathway From Speech and Language to Literacy

A useful way to understand the relationship is to imagine language development as a foundation.

Early speech and language development

↓

Vocabulary and sentence development

↓

Phonological awareness

↓

Letter-sound knowledge

↓

Word reading and decoding

↓

Reading fluency

↓

Reading comprehension

↓

Spelling and written expression

This does not mean that every child follows exactly the same pathway.

It means that different language abilities interact with one another as children develop literacy.

Recent research continues to demonstrate the importance of language-related abilities in literacy development. For example, a 2026 systematic review of children with developmental dyslexia and developmental language disorder identified phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, semantic knowledge, and syntactic processing among important factors associated with reading outcomes.

1. Speech and Language Delay and Phonological Awareness

One of the most important links between early communication and later reading is phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structure of spoken language.

A child gradually learns that:

Words can be divided into syllables.
Words contain smaller sound units.
Words can rhyme.
Words can begin or end with particular sounds.
Words can be broken into individual sounds.
Sounds can be combined to form words.

For example, a child may eventually learn that:

cat

contains three sounds:

/k/ – /æ/ – /t/

This ability is different from simply being able to pronounce the word.

A child may be able to say “cat” without consciously understanding that the word consists of separate speech sounds.

That distinction becomes important when children begin learning to read.

Why Phonological Awareness Is Important for Reading

Alphabetic writing systems require children to connect spoken sounds with written symbols.

For example:

/m/ → m

/s/ → s

/t/ → t

Eventually, children combine these relationships to decode unfamiliar words.

If a child has difficulty identifying, separating, remembering, or manipulating speech sounds, learning these relationships may be more challenging.

This is one reason children with persistent speech sound difficulties can be at increased risk of word-reading difficulties.

Research reviewed by ASHA has emphasized that children with speech sound disorders may demonstrate weaknesses in phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge, which can increase their risk for reading difficulties.

Therefore, when a child has a history of significant speech sound difficulties, it is useful to consider not only:

“Can the child pronounce the sound correctly?”

but also:

“How well does the child understand and manipulate the sound structure of words?”

This broader perspective can help identify literacy risk earlier.

2. Vocabulary Delay and Reading Comprehension

Another major connection between speech and language delay and school performance involves vocabulary.

Children learn thousands of words during childhood.

Vocabulary is not simply about knowing definitions.

A child needs to develop increasingly sophisticated knowledge about:

Word meanings
Categories
Synonyms
Antonyms
Multiple meanings
Relationships between words
Descriptive vocabulary
Academic vocabulary
Abstract concepts

Consider a classroom instruction such as:

“Compare the two characters and explain how their behavior influenced the outcome of the story.”

A child must understand several concepts in this single instruction:

compare
characters
behavior
influenced
outcome

A child with a limited vocabulary may know the basic story but still struggle to understand the question.

This can sometimes look like a reading problem when the deeper difficulty is actually language comprehension.

A systematic review of reading comprehension in children with developmental language disorder found that expressive language, including oral and written language, was positively associated with reading comprehension. The review also found that children with persistent language disorder may have poorer comprehension outcomes than children whose earlier language difficulties had resolved.

3. Language Delay and Learning New Words at School

School places enormous demands on vocabulary development.

Children do not only learn vocabulary from conversations with their parents.

They encounter new words through:

Stories
Science
Mathematics
Social studies
Classroom discussions
Worksheets
Instructions
Homework
Educational videos
Independent reading

A child with a persistent language difficulty may learn new vocabulary more slowly or have difficulty establishing strong connections between words, their sounds, meanings, and contexts.

Research on vocabulary intervention in children with developmental language disorder emphasizes the importance of phonological and semantic aspects of word learning.

This is particularly important because vocabulary supports both oral language and written language.

The more effectively a child understands and retrieves words, the easier it becomes to understand texts and express ideas in writing.

4. Speech and Language Delay and Letter-Sound Learning

When children begin formal literacy instruction, they must learn to associate letters with sounds.

This involves several skills.

A child needs to:

Recognize letters.
Name letters.
Identify letter sounds.
Remember the relationship between symbols and sounds.
Apply these relationships when reading unfamiliar words.
Eventually use these relationships when spelling.

For some children with developmental language difficulties, these processes can be challenging.

A 2026 systematic review specifically examining letter knowledge in children with developmental language disorder found that research commonly focuses on letter-name and letter-sound identification, while writing-related components have received less attention. The review also noted that interventions often integrate letter knowledge with phonological awareness or broader literacy instruction.

This reinforces an important clinical point:

Literacy assessment should not look at one isolated skill.

A child may know letter names but struggle to connect letters with sounds.

Another child may know individual sounds but struggle to blend them into words.

Another may decode words adequately but have significant difficulty understanding what those words mean in a sentence.

Each profile requires a different approach.

5. Speech and Language Delay and Reading Fluency

Reading is not only about getting words correct.

Children gradually need to become more fluent.

Reading fluency involves reading words:

Accurately
Efficiently
At an appropriate pace
With appropriate phrasing and expression

When decoding requires excessive effort, the child may have fewer cognitive resources available for understanding the text.

For example, imagine a child reading:

The little girl carried the basket to the garden.

If the child spends most of their attention decoding individual words, they may have difficulty simultaneously understanding the overall meaning of the sentence.

This can lead to a frustrating situation:

The child can technically read the words but cannot explain what they just read.

Parents may say:

“He can read, but he doesn’t understand.”

This distinction is extremely important.

Reading ability involves multiple interacting components, including word recognition and language comprehension.

6. Language Delay and Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension becomes increasingly dependent on language as children progress through school.

In the earliest stages, children may rely heavily on decoding.

Later, they are expected to learn from what they read.

The questions become more complex:

What happened?
Why did it happen?
What does this word mean?
What is the main idea?
What can we infer?
How are these characters different?
What evidence supports your answer?
What might happen next?
Why did the author include this information?

These questions require much more than decoding.

They require:

Vocabulary
Grammar
Sentence comprehension
Inferencing
Background knowledge
Narrative understanding
Verbal reasoning
Working memory
Ability to integrate information

Children with persistent developmental language difficulties may therefore experience difficulties with reading comprehension even when their basic decoding skills are relatively adequate.

The 2024 systematic review of reading comprehension in children with developmental language disorders identified expressive language and language-disorder history as important factors associated with reading comprehension. It also noted potential difficulty with inference-based questions.

7. Speech and Language Delay and Spelling

Spelling is another area in which early language difficulties can become visible.

Many parents assume spelling is primarily a memory task.

It is not.

Spelling requires children to coordinate several linguistic systems.

They need to consider:

Speech sounds
Phonological structure
Letter-sound relationships
Orthographic patterns
Word structure
Morphology
Grammar
Visual memory
Previously learned spelling patterns

For example, a child learning to spell a word must determine which sounds they hear and then select the appropriate letters or letter combinations.

If the child’s phonological representations are weak, spelling may become more difficult.

A scoping review of spelling in children with developmental language disorder identified phonological representations, morphological awareness, and reading skills as important factors to consider when evaluating spelling difficulties.

This means that persistent spelling problems may sometimes be connected to earlier language or phonological weaknesses rather than simply “not studying enough.”

8. Language Delay and Written Sentences

Writing is considerably more complex than copying letters.

A child who writes independently must generate and organize language.

Consider this simple assignment:

“Write three sentences about your weekend.”

The child has to:

Think of an event.
Decide what information is important.
Retrieve vocabulary.
Organize the sequence.
Construct sentences.
Use grammar.
Spell words.
Use punctuation.
Write or type the information.
Review the final product.

A child with language difficulties may struggle at several stages.

The final written work may therefore look much weaker than the child’s verbal intelligence or understanding.

9. Grammar Difficulties Can Appear in Writing

Grammar is particularly important because written language often requires more complex sentence structures than everyday conversation.

A child with language difficulties may produce sentences such as:

“Yesterday me and my friend go park.”

instead of:

“Yesterday, my friend and I went to the park.”

The child may understand the general idea but have difficulty expressing it using the grammatical structures expected at school.

As academic demands increase, children are expected to use:

Complex sentences
Conjunctions
Relative clauses
Temporal relationships
Cause-and-effect structures
Conditional language
Precise verb forms
Appropriate pronouns
Academic vocabulary

Persistent language difficulties can therefore affect written expression.

A 2023 scoping review covering 72 studies found that children and adolescents with developmental language disorder may have relative difficulties with spelling, grammar, organization, cohesion, and the length of written output.

10. Narrative Language and Writing

Narrative language is another important bridge between spoken language and writing. These skills involve the ability to tell or understand a story with an organized structure.

A well-developed narrative typically includes elements such as:

Characters
Setting
Beginning
Problem
Events
Actions
Consequences
Resolution

A child with weak narrative skills may tell a story as a series of disconnected statements:

“He went there. Then he fell. Then his mom came. Then they went home.”

The child may know what happened but struggle to organize the information into a coherent story.

This same difficulty can appear in writing.

The written version may contain:

Short disconnected sentences
Missing information
Poor sequencing
Limited descriptions
Repetition
Weak connections between ideas
Difficulty explaining causes and consequences

Therefore, improving oral narrative language can sometimes provide an important foundation for written expression.

11. The Difference Between Speech Delay and Language Delay in Literacy

It is important not to treat every communication difficulty as the same.

A child with primarily speech sound difficulties

may have relatively strong:

Vocabulary
Sentence comprehension
Grammar
Storytelling
General language

but may struggle with:

Speech sound production
Phonological representations
Phonological awareness
Sound manipulation

This child may have a particular risk profile for literacy.

A child with broader language difficulties

may struggle with:

Understanding language
Vocabulary
Grammar
Sentence formulation
Narrative skills
Verbal reasoning
Following complex instructions

This child may have a broader academic risk profile involving:

Reading comprehension
Vocabulary
Spelling
Written expression
Narrative writing
Academic language

This is why a detailed speech and language assessment is more informative than simply asking:

“Does my child have a speech delay?”

12. Can a Child Outgrow Speech and Language Delay?

Sometimes children make substantial progress and their early language difficulties resolve.

That is good news.

But parents should not assume that every early language delay will disappear without support.

The developmental trajectory varies considerably between children.

A child who catches up in everyday conversation may still have subtle weaknesses in:

Vocabulary
Grammar
Narrative language
Phonological awareness
Auditory memory
Following complex instructions
Reading comprehension
Written language

These weaknesses may not become obvious until school expectations increase.

Research on reading comprehension in children with developmental language disorder found that children whose language difficulties had resolved showed better reading comprehension than those with persistent difficulties.

This does not mean that every child with a previous delay will develop a disorder.

It does mean that developmental progress should be monitored rather than assumed.

13. Why Some Children Look Fine Before School but Struggle After Starting School

Parents sometimes say:

“He spoke late, but then he caught up. We didn’t think there was a problem.”

Then, after the child starts school:

“He can talk, but reading is very difficult.”

This can happen because the demands placed on language change dramatically.

Preschool communication is often supported by:

Pictures
Gestures
Familiar routines
Context
Repetition
Adults who understand the child

School communication becomes increasingly abstract.

The child must understand language without as much contextual support.

They must listen to:

“Before you begin the activity, underline the words that describe the character and then write one sentence explaining why you chose them.”

This requires much more advanced language processing.

As a result, subtle weaknesses may become obvious only after school begins.

14. The Role of Phonological Processing

Phonological processing deserves special attention when discussing speech delay and reading difficulties.

Phonological processing includes several related abilities involving the representation and manipulation of speech sounds.

These can include:

Phonological awareness
Phonological working memory
Rapid retrieval of verbal information

These abilities contribute to learning spoken and written language.

For example, when a child encounters an unfamiliar written word, they need to process its letters and sounds efficiently.

If the child has difficulty holding sound sequences in memory, manipulating sounds, or rapidly retrieving phonological information, literacy learning may require more effort.

This is one reason early speech sound assessment should consider more than articulation alone.

15. Speech Sound Disorders and Later Reading Risk

A child who cannot correctly pronounce certain sounds is not automatically at risk of dyslexia or reading difficulty.

However, persistent speech sound disorders can sometimes coexist with underlying phonological or language weaknesses.

Research has identified relationships between speech sound disorders and later word-reading difficulties, particularly when phonological awareness and other language-related abilities are affected.

For this reason, clinicians may consider questions such as:

Can the child identify rhyming words?
Can the child identify the first sound in a word?
Can the child segment syllables?
Can the child blend sounds?
Can the child manipulate sounds?
Can the child remember unfamiliar sound sequences?

These abilities can provide useful information about literacy readiness.

16. Language Delay and Reading Comprehension: The Hidden Difficulty

One of the most easily overlooked problems is a child who reads words accurately but has weak comprehension.

Parents may hear the child reading aloud and think:

“His reading is fine.”

But reading aloud accurately does not necessarily mean that the child understands the text.

For example, a child may correctly read:

“The frightened puppy ran underneath the wooden table because the loud thunder startled him.”

but have difficulty answering:

“Why did the puppy hide?”

The child may decode every word but have difficulty connecting:

frightened
startled
thunder
because

into a meaningful causal relationship.

This is a language comprehension issue rather than simply a decoding problem.

17. Inference Is Especially Important

As children move through school, reading comprehension increasingly requires inference.

The information is not always stated directly.

For example:

“Sara grabbed her umbrella before leaving the house. When she reached school, her shoes were wet.”

The text never directly says:

“It was raining.”

The child must infer it.

Inference requires the child to combine information from the text with existing knowledge.

Children with language difficulties may need additional support with:

Predicting
Explaining causes
Understanding implied meanings
Connecting information across sentences
Understanding pronoun references
Identifying the main idea
Drawing conclusions

These abilities are particularly important as academic texts become more complex.

18. How Language Delay Can Affect Homework

The impact of language difficulties may extend beyond classroom reading.

Consider a homework instruction:

“Read the passage and summarize the author’s main argument in three sentences.”

The child must understand:

Read
Passage
Summarize
Author
Main
Argument

They also need to understand the expected response.

A child with language difficulties may spend a significant amount of time trying to understand what the assignment is asking before even beginning the actual task.

This can lead to:

Frustration
Avoidance
Slow homework completion
Dependence on parents
Reduced confidence

Parents may interpret this as laziness.

But sometimes the child is struggling with the language demands of the task.

19. When Reading and Writing Difficulties Are Not Simply “A Speech Problem”

It is important to avoid oversimplifying the relationship.

A child with speech and language delay may have reading or writing difficulties, but literacy difficulties can have many possible contributors.

These may include:

Developmental language disorder
Speech sound disorder
Dyslexia
Attention difficulties
Hearing difficulties
Cognitive factors
Educational factors
Limited exposure to literacy
Other neurodevelopmental conditions
Multiple interacting factors

A speech-language pathologist can evaluate the communication and language components, but some children may also benefit from assessment by other professionals.

The goal should be to understand why the child is struggling rather than simply assigning a label.

20. Early Warning Signs Parents Should Watch For

Parents should consider seeking professional advice if a child with a history of speech and language delay later shows several of the following signs.

Preschool warning signs

Difficulty learning new words
Limited vocabulary
Difficulty following increasingly complex instructions
Difficulty producing sentences
Difficulty telling a simple story
Difficulty identifying rhyming words
Difficulty identifying syllables
Persistent speech sound errors
Difficulty remembering verbal information
Difficulty answering questions

Early school warning signs

Difficulty learning letter names
Difficulty learning letter sounds
Difficulty blending sounds
Difficulty segmenting words into sounds
Difficulty remembering spelling patterns
Slow progress in reading
Frequent guessing when reading
Difficulty understanding stories
Difficulty retelling what was read
Difficulty writing simple sentences

Later school warning signs

Poor reading comprehension
Weak vocabulary compared with classmates
Persistent spelling problems
Very short written answers
Poor sentence structure
Disorganized writing
Difficulty writing stories
Difficulty summarizing information
Difficulty answering inferential questions
Avoidance of reading and writing tasks

One isolated sign does not establish a disorder.

However, several persistent signs together deserve attention.

21. How Speech Therapy Can Support Literacy

Speech therapy is not limited to helping children pronounce sounds correctly.

Speech-language pathologists can work on the broader communication skills that support academic success.

Depending on the child’s profile, intervention may address:

Speech sound production

Improving accurate production and stability of speech sounds.

Phonological awareness

Helping children recognize and manipulate sound structures.

Vocabulary

Developing understanding and use of increasingly sophisticated words.

Grammar

Building more complex and accurate sentences.

Narrative language

Helping children organize and communicate stories.

Listening comprehension

Improving understanding of increasingly complex spoken language.

Verbal reasoning

Helping children explain relationships, causes, categories, and concepts.

Reading-related language skills

Supporting phonological awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and other language foundations for literacy.

Written language

Where appropriate and within the clinician’s scope, supporting spelling, sentence formulation, narrative organization, and other language components of writing.

22. Speech Therapy for Reading and Writing Difficulties Should Be Individualized

There is no single treatment program that works for every child.

A child with a speech sound disorder may require a very different intervention plan from a child with developmental language disorder.

For example:

Child A

Has difficulty producing /r/ and /l/ but has age-appropriate vocabulary and comprehension.

The main intervention may focus on speech sound production.

Child B

Has limited vocabulary and difficulty understanding complex sentences.

The intervention may focus on receptive and expressive language.

Child C

Has persistent speech sound difficulties plus poor phonological awareness.

The intervention may integrate speech production with phonological and literacy-related skills.

Child D

Reads words accurately but has difficulty understanding stories.

The focus may include vocabulary, inferencing, narrative comprehension, and verbal reasoning.

This is why a detailed assessment is important before deciding what intervention a child needs.

23. Why Early Intervention Matters

Early intervention does not mean assuming that a young child will definitely develop academic problems.

Instead, early intervention provides an opportunity to strengthen areas of weakness while the child’s communication system is developing.

This may be particularly valuable when a child demonstrates persistent difficulties in:

Speech production
Vocabulary
Grammar
Comprehension
Phonological awareness
Narrative language

Early support can also give parents strategies they can use during everyday interactions.

For example, parents can support language development while:

Reading books
Cooking
Playing
Going to the park
Shopping
Talking about daily routines

Language intervention does not have to happen only inside a therapy room.

24. The Importance of Shared Book Reading

Shared book reading is a simple but powerful way to support language and literacy.

Parents can go beyond simply reading the words on the page.

They can ask:

“What do you think will happen next?”

“Why is the boy sad?”

“What does this word mean?”

“Can you tell me what happened at the beginning?”

“What happened after that?”

“How do you think she felt?”

These questions encourage:

Vocabulary
Comprehension
Narrative skills
Inferencing
Sentence formulation
Verbal reasoning

For a child with language difficulties, parents can simplify questions and provide appropriate support rather than turning reading into a test.

25. Building Vocabulary Before and During School

Vocabulary can be developed naturally throughout daily life.

For example, instead of repeatedly saying:

“Look at the car.”

parents can expand the conversation:

“Look at the red car. It’s moving very quickly. I think the driver is going to turn at the corner.”

This exposes the child to:

Color words
Descriptive words
Action words
Adverbs
Predictions
Spatial concepts

When the child is ready, parents can encourage them to use the new vocabulary themselves.

26. Why Parents Should Not Wait for Reading Failure

A common mistake is waiting until a child fails at school before seeking an assessment.

If a preschool child already has significant and persistent language difficulties, it may be useful to evaluate the skills underlying later literacy.

This does not mean predicting the child’s academic future.

It means identifying areas that may benefit from support.

For example, a child with a history of language delay can be monitored for:

Phonological awareness
Letter knowledge
Vocabulary
Narrative skills
Listening comprehension
Early decoding
Spelling development

The 2026 systematic review on letter knowledge in children with developmental language disorder highlights the importance of intentionally assessing relevant letter knowledge and, where appropriate, writing-related skills rather than focusing on only one literacy component.

27. What Should a Speech and Language Assessment Include?

For a child with a history of speech and language delay, a comprehensive assessment may consider several areas.

Receptive language

Can the child understand:

Words?
Sentences?
Concepts?
Questions?
Directions?
Complex language?

Expressive language

Can the child:

Name objects?
Describe events?
Form sentences?
Explain ideas?
Tell stories?
Use appropriate grammar?

Speech sound production

Can the child:

Produce age-appropriate sounds?
Maintain sound patterns across words?
Produce longer and more complex words?

Phonological awareness

Can the child:

Recognize rhyme?
Segment syllables?
Identify initial sounds?
Blend sounds?
Segment phonemes?

Vocabulary

How well does the child understand and use words?

Narrative skills

Can the child organize a story logically?

Early literacy

Depending on age, assessment may consider:

Letter knowledge
Letter-sound relationships
Early decoding
Emergent writing
Spelling

Reading

For school-aged children:

Word recognition
Decoding
Fluency
Reading comprehension

Writing

Where appropriate:

Spelling
Sentence construction
Grammar
Organization
Narrative writing
Written language formulation

The exact assessment should be appropriate to the child’s age, language background, educational context, and presenting concerns.

28. Multilingual Children Need Careful Assessment

Dubai is a multilingual environment.

Many children hear and use more than one language at home, at school, and in the community.

Being bilingual or multilingual does not by itself cause a language disorder.

However, language assessment should consider the child’s complete linguistic environment.

A child may have:

English at school
Arabic in the community
Persian at home
Another language with extended family

Parents should therefore provide the clinician with information about:

Which languages the child hears
Which languages the child speaks
When each language was introduced
Which language is strongest
Which language is used at school
Whether difficulties occur across languages

This information helps distinguish normal multilingual development from persistent language difficulties.

29. Speech and Language Delay Does Not Mean Low Intelligence

This is an important message for parents.

A child can have significant communication difficulties and still have strong intellectual abilities.

Difficulty with:

Speaking
Understanding language
Reading
Spelling
Writing

does not automatically mean that the child has low intelligence.

A child may understand a concept but struggle to express it verbally or in writing.

Another child may have excellent reasoning skills but require additional time to process language.

Therefore, academic difficulties should be interpreted carefully.

30. Why Children Can Become Frustrated With Reading and Writing

When language and literacy tasks are difficult, children may begin to avoid them.

Parents may notice:

“He doesn’t want to read.”

“She hates homework.”

“He says reading is boring.”

“She gets upset whenever she has to write.”

Sometimes avoidance is not a lack of motivation.

It may be a response to repeated difficulty.

Imagine being asked to perform a task every day that requires significantly more effort from you than from your classmates.

Over time, frustration can develop.

This is another reason why identifying the underlying difficulty early is important.

31. The Academic Impact of Persistent Language Difficulties

The consequences of language difficulties can extend beyond reading and writing.

School learning involves language across almost every subject.

Mathematics

Children need to understand:

More than
Less than
Equal
Before
After
Difference
Compare
Explain
Estimate

Science

They need to understand:

Descriptions
Processes
Sequences
Cause and effect
Explanations
Technical vocabulary

Social studies

They may need to understand:

Chronology
Perspective
Cause and consequence
Abstract concepts

Therefore, language skills are closely connected with broader academic participation.

A systematic review of academic achievement in students with developmental language disorder found difficulties across measured curriculum areas, with substantial attention to literacy skills such as reading, spelling, writing, and narratives.

32. Reading and Writing Difficulties Can Become More Complex With Age

The relationship between language and literacy changes as children grow.

Preschool

The focus is primarily on:

Spoken language
Vocabulary
Speech sounds
Listening
Early phonological awareness

Early primary school

The focus expands to:

Letter knowledge
Decoding
Word reading
Spelling
Simple writing

Later primary school

Children need:

Reading fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Inference
Paragraph writing
Organization
Grammar

Secondary school

Language demands become even more advanced.

Students need to:

Understand complex academic texts
Interpret abstract language
Summarize
Compare sources
Explain arguments
Write longer compositions
Use subject-specific vocabulary

Therefore, a relatively subtle language weakness can become increasingly significant as academic language becomes more complex.

33. What Can Parents Do at Home?

Parents do not need to become teachers or therapists.

Simple daily activities can provide valuable opportunities for language development.

Talk during everyday routines

Describe what you are doing.

Expand the child’s sentences

If the child says:

“Dog run.”

You might say:

“Yes, the big dog is running very fast.”

Read together

Ask questions and discuss the story.

Play sound games

For example:

“What words start with /m/?”

Practice storytelling

Ask the child to describe:

What happened first?

What happened next?

How did it end?

Encourage explanations

Ask:

“Why do you think that happened?”

Build vocabulary

Introduce new words and use them in different contexts.

These strategies can complement professional intervention when a child needs speech-language therapy.

34. When Should Parents Consult a Speech-Language Pathologist?

Parents should consider an assessment when communication difficulties are persistent, interfere with everyday communication, or appear to be affecting learning.

Particularly important signs include:

Persistent difficulty understanding language
Limited vocabulary
Difficulty forming sentences
Persistent speech sound difficulties
Difficulty telling stories
Difficulty following classroom instructions
Problems learning letter sounds
Difficulty reading
Persistent spelling difficulties
Poor reading comprehension
Difficulty expressing ideas in writing

The earlier the underlying profile is understood, the easier it may be to plan appropriate support.

35. Speech Therapy and School Collaboration

For school-aged children, communication between the family, school, and speech-language professional can be extremely useful.

Teachers may notice problems that parents do not see at home.

For example, a child may communicate comfortably during family conversations but struggle with:

Classroom instructions
Group discussions
Oral presentations
Written assignments
Reading comprehension
Academic vocabulary

The speech-language pathologist can help identify communication-related barriers and suggest strategies that can be used across environments.

36. Does Speech Therapy Guarantee Better Reading and Writing?

No.

It would be inappropriate to promise that speech therapy will prevent every future reading or writing difficulty.

Children’s developmental profiles differ, and literacy outcomes depend on many factors.

However, identifying and addressing relevant communication difficulties can provide important support.

For children with developmental language disorder, research supports the importance of addressing language abilities that contribute to academic participation.

Intervention should therefore be based on the child’s specific needs rather than a generic “speech delay program.”

37. Speech and Language Delay: A Risk Factor, Not a Prediction

This is perhaps the most important message of the entire article.

A history of speech and language delay should not be interpreted as a prediction that a child will definitely struggle academically.

Instead, it can be viewed as a reason to monitor development carefully.

Some children make excellent progress.

Others continue to experience difficulties.

Some have primarily speech sound difficulties.

Others have broader language problems.

Some develop reading difficulties.

Others develop mainly writing or comprehension difficulties.

And some experience challenges in multiple areas.

The child’s individual developmental profile matters.

38. When Should Reading and Writing Be Assessed?

Assessment may be particularly appropriate when:

A child has a significant history of language delay.
Speech difficulties persist into school.
The child struggles to learn letter sounds.
Reading progress is substantially slower than expected.
Spelling remains unusually difficult.
The child has difficulty understanding what they read.
Writing is much weaker than oral expression.
The child has difficulty organizing stories.
Teachers report concerns about language or literacy.
The child avoids reading and writing tasks.

Assessment does not necessarily mean that a child needs long-term therapy.

Sometimes an evaluation provides reassurance.

Sometimes it identifies a specific weakness that can be addressed with targeted intervention.

39. The Importance of Looking Beyond the Child’s Age

A common mistake is asking:

“Is my child old enough for this problem to matter?”

Instead, clinicians consider whether the child’s skills are appropriate for their developmental stage and whether difficulties are persistent and functionally significant.

A preschool child may naturally make mistakes that would be concerning in a school-aged child.

Similarly, a first-grade child who is still learning basic literacy skills is different from a fourth-grade child who continues to struggle with them.

Development is dynamic.

That is why professional assessment considers age, developmental history, language exposure, educational expectations, and the child’s overall communication profile.

40. The Connection Between Oral and Written Language

The relationship can be summarized in a simple way:

Oral language provides important building blocks for written language.

A child who develops:

Strong vocabulary
Good sentence comprehension
Strong narrative skills
Phonological awareness
Understanding of grammar
Ability to organize ideas

has important foundations for literacy.

When one or more of these areas is weak, reading and writing may require additional support.

This does not mean that oral language completely determines literacy outcomes.

Reading and writing also require explicit instruction and the development of print-specific skills.

But language remains an important part of the overall system.

41. A Practical Example

Imagine a child who had delayed first words and continued to have limited vocabulary at age four.

By age six, the child speaks in sentences but often:

Uses vague words
Struggles to explain events
Has difficulty understanding complex questions
Produces grammatical errors
Has difficulty identifying rhymes

The child starts school.

Initially, the child may appear to be doing reasonably well.

Then reading instruction becomes more demanding.

The child struggles to:

Blend sounds
Learn unfamiliar words
Understand new vocabulary
Retell stories
Answer “why” questions
Write complete sentences

The family may initially think the child simply needs more reading practice.

But the broader profile suggests that the child may need assessment of underlying language and literacy skills.

This is exactly why understanding the relationship between early language development and later academic skills is so important.

42. Another Example: A Child With Speech Sound Difficulties

Consider another child.

The child has good vocabulary and understands stories well but has persistent difficulty producing several speech sounds.

At school, the child begins to struggle with:

Sound awareness
Spelling
Reading unfamiliar words

The problem may not be that the child’s vocabulary is weak.

Instead, there may be weaknesses involving phonological processing.

This illustrates why a detailed assessment matters.

Two children may both be described by parents as having a “speech delay,” but their underlying needs can be completely different.

43. Another Example: A Child Who Reads but Does Not Understand

A third child reads aloud fluently.

Parents are initially pleased.

However, when asked:

“What was the story about?”

the child gives very little information.

The child may have difficulty with:

Vocabulary
Inference
Sentence comprehension
Connecting ideas
Narrative structure

In this case, simply practicing reading aloud may not address the primary problem.

The intervention needs to target language comprehension.

44. What Parents Should Remember

If your child has experienced speech and language delay, it is reasonable to think beyond pronunciation and early talking.

Ask:

How well does my child understand language?
How quickly does my child learn new words?
Can my child tell a coherent story?
Can my child recognize and manipulate sounds?
Can my child learn letter-sound relationships?
Can my child understand what they read?
Can my child organize ideas in writing?

These questions provide a much broader picture of communication and learning.

Conclusion: Supporting Language Today Can Support Literacy Tomorrow

Speech and language delay is not simply a preschool communication issue.

For some children, persistent language difficulties can continue to influence learning when they enter school.

The connection can involve several stages:

Speech and language development → vocabulary → phonological awareness → decoding → reading fluency → comprehension → spelling → written expression.

The relationship is not deterministic. A history of speech or language delay does not mean that a child will definitely develop reading or writing difficulties.

However, research shows that children with persistent developmental language difficulties are at increased risk of academic and literacy challenges. Systematic reviews have reported difficulties involving reading, spelling, writing, comprehension, grammar, organization, and other academic language skills.

The good news is that communication skills can be assessed and supported.

If your child has a history of speech and language delay and is now experiencing difficulties with reading, spelling, comprehension, or writing, it may be helpful to look at the underlying language and literacy skills rather than treating the academic problem in isolation.

A comprehensive speech and language assessment can help determine whether difficulties are primarily related to speech sound production, phonological awareness, vocabulary, language comprehension, grammar, narrative language, or a combination of these areas.

Early identification does not mean labeling a child.

It means understanding the child’s strengths and difficulties so that appropriate support can be provided.

For families in Dubai, seeking assessment from a qualified speech-language pathologist can be an important first step when concerns about communication and school learning arise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can speech delay cause reading problems?

Speech delay does not automatically cause reading problems. However, persistent speech and language difficulties can be associated with an increased risk of literacy difficulties. Children with ongoing speech sound or language difficulties may have weaknesses in phonological awareness, vocabulary, language comprehension, or other skills that support reading.

Does late talking mean my child will have dyslexia?

No. Late talking does not mean that a child will develop dyslexia. Some children with early language delays catch up and develop typical literacy skills. However, persistent language difficulties may increase the child’s risk of later reading difficulties, so monitoring development can be useful.

Can language delay affect writing?

Yes. Persistent language difficulties can affect aspects of writing such as spelling, grammar, sentence construction, organization, cohesion, and the amount of written information a child produces. Research reviews have identified these areas as potential difficulties for children with developmental language disorder.

Why does my child read words correctly but not understand stories?

Reading comprehension requires more than decoding. Children also need vocabulary, grammar, background knowledge, inferencing, and the ability to connect information across sentences. A child can therefore read words accurately while still having language-based comprehension difficulties.

Can speech therapy help with reading and writing?

Speech-language therapy can support communication and language skills that contribute to literacy. Depending on the child’s needs, therapy may address speech sounds, phonological awareness, vocabulary, grammar, narrative language, comprehension, and other language-related literacy skills.

When should I have my child assessed?

Consider an assessment if your child has persistent speech or language difficulties, difficulty learning letter sounds, slow reading development, ongoing spelling problems, poor reading comprehension, or significant difficulty expressing ideas in writing.

Does bilingualism cause speech or language delay?

No. Learning more than one language does not inherently cause a speech or language disorder. However, assessment of a multilingual child should consider the child’s complete language history and communication abilities across their languages.

Should a child with speech delay have a literacy assessment?

Not every child with a history of speech delay needs a comprehensive literacy assessment. However, if speech difficulties persist or there are concerns about phonological awareness, letter knowledge, reading, spelling, or writing, assessment can help identify areas that may require support.

Final Message for Parents

If your child had a history of speech and language delay, do not wait until academic failure occurs before paying attention to literacy development.

Watch how your child:

Learns new words
Understands instructions
Plays with sounds
Learns letters
Reads
Spells
Understands stories
Tells stories
Writes sentences
Explains ideas

The goal is not to predict your child’s future.

The goal is to recognize difficulties early and provide the right support at the right time.

Speech and language are foundations for learning, and strong communication skills can make it easier for children to participate, learn, read, write, and succeed at school.

Contact Details

Dr. Azizreza Ghasemzadeh
Speech Therapist & Consultant Psychologist
WhatsApp: 0555 600 641
www.speechtherapy.ae
✉️ info@speechtherapy.ae
Armada Medical Centre, JLT – Dubai
Lifeworks Centre, Al Quoz – Dubai

Selected Published Articles by Dr. Azizreza Ghasemzadeh

You may refer to the following peer-reviewed articles authored by Dr. Ghasemzadeh et al., to explore further research in clinical psychology, cognitive therapy, speech disorders, and neurological rehabilitation: