How is speech pathology related to learning to read?
Melanie Knight, Speech Pathologist, Early Literacy Development Specialist, and Owner of Reading Bees
Language is the foundation for reading development, and I am passionate about developing children's language skills.
My name is Mel, and I am the owner of Reading Bees.
I have spent over 20 years as a speech pathologist and a decade specialising in early literacy development.
As a ‘Speechie’, my job is to improve communication outcomes for my patients.
Improvement typically happens in the early speech and language development phase when working with young children - well before they are ready to learn to read.
Over 20 years, I’ve seen the direct link between language skills and the development of early literacy skills.
This experience, backed by the science of reading research, proves that early intervention in language and literacy development significantly impacts overall success.
That’s why, when I discovered Reading Bees in 2019, I was so excited about the opportunity to make a positive impact on the children in our community and create confident learners for life.
Maureen Pollard, Founder of Little Learners Love Literacy, the evidence-based program Reading Bees follows, reminds us that learning to read is not easy or natural. It is a complex process.
“Oral language and pre-literacy, phonological awareness skills support early reading and writing development. Skilled readers have good decoding skills (word recognition), understand what they read (comprehension), and read with fluency.”
We know that children with a healthy vocabulary are well-placed to build a solid foundation to learn to read. This science-backed method forms the basis of everything we do at Reading Bees.
I was privileged to become the Owner of Reading Bees in 2021.
Together with our incredible team, we’ve updated and improved our learning program in line with new research. We’ve opened new learning studios across Melbourne, taking the total to six learning studios. And we’re not stopping there!
The latest version of the Reading Bees enhanced learning program aims to prevent and address the reading difficulties I often saw in children as a speech pathologist. Our enhanced program is backed by research and is the fastest, most effective way to teach children to read, spell and master early maths concepts.
The Reading Bees learning program was primarily for 3-5-year-olds before they started school, but in 2021, we extended it to address reading and spelling challenges for 5-9-year-olds too. We’re so happy to serve 750 students across Melbourne.
The gift of learning is life-changing. Why not give it a try for your kids?