Occupational therapy and preliteracy skills: An integrated approach to treatment

ABSTRACT

Preliteracy skills are skills that must be mastered prior to a child learning to read, write, and consequently excel within an academic environment. A literature review was conducted to extract the preliteracy skills found to most closely correlate with later literacy outcomes. Once identified, these writers described ways in which essential preliteracy skills could be incorporated into occupational therapy sessions. The goal of this article is to inform occupational therapists on the topic of preliteracy and to encourage integration of preliteracy activities into occupational therapies, thus enriching therapeutic environments for childrens’ growth and development.

KEYWORDS:

• Preliteracy
• occupational therapy
• speech therapy

Resources/tools

• Songs to sing together: www.readingrockets.org

• A guide by age for reading to your child: http://www.parents.com/baby/development/intellectual/age-by-age-guide-to-reading-to-your-baby/

• Tips for reading to your 0–3 (years) child: http://www.nea.org/grants/tips-for-reading-to-infants-toddlers.html

• Reasons to read to children: http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_newborn/learning/reading_babies.html

Book list

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Bill Martin, Jr.

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

• Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown

• Sheep in a Jeep, Nancy Shaw

• Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss

• The Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown

• Where’s Spot?, Eric Hill

• The Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister

• Little Blue Truck, Alice Shertle

• Peek-a-Who?, Nina Laden

• Moo, Baa, LA LA LA, Sandra Boynton