There were many books and reading materials on display in Rhema's gym.
Rhema hosts reading conference
Monday, May 14, 2007 -- Jennifer Higgs
Early childhood educators, teachers and parents attended the Getting Ready to Read conference at Rhema Christian School May 11.

The conference was sponsored by the Speech, Language & Hearing Association of Peterborough. Speech language pathologists from different organizations worked together to present on topics aimed at phonological awareness and practical ways to help children learn to read.

Representatives were in attendance from the Five Counties Children’s Centre, the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board (PVNCSB), and the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPRDSB).

There were over 100 people who participated in the conference. Rhema’s gym was filled with tables and displays from different organizations specializing in books and communication.

Jennifer Scates, a Rhema parent and member of the Speech, Language & Hearing Association of Peterborough helped organize the annual event.

“I think speech and language and hearing are universal skills that we all need to co-exist, and there are children in our community here who aren’t speaking well, aren’t reading well and they need opportunity,” says Scates.

Scates says it is important that children in the community can receive help from professionals.

Rhema parent Chris Leney says she decided to attend the conference to help her son.

“We’re having so many problems with reading and writing that I thought this was a great venue to explore alternate options for doing things at home and helping their ability to read and write,” says Leney. “And it’s great that it’s at the school.”

Leney says the displays around the gym were an excellent way to ask more specific questions to specialists.

“The bulk of our presentation is about chronological awareness, and how those skills that children need to have are related to reading,” says Jacqueline Angione, a speech language pathologist at PVNCSB.

“If they don’t have those skills, they are at risk for reading difficulty.”

The speech, language and hearing community works well together, says Liz McCarney from the KPRDSB.

“We service different populations so we don’t always on a day-to-day level get to work with each other, but we work really well in joint ventures like this,” says McCarney.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to work together.”

McCarney says it is important to appreciate how chronological awareness relates to reading. There are certain steps parents and educators can use to gage the skills the reader learns.

“Within those steps, we would expect kids to be able to do certain skills at the easiest level,” she says.

The levels for phonological awareness from easiest to the most difficult are word, syllable and sound. She says the levels can be taught to learners in fun ways that can be inexpensive and easily adaptable.

“(We) just hope that we are imparting to them that it’s really important to fill in those gaps for kids who are struggling to read,” says McCarney.

Susan Scoffin, an early childhood educator, presented at the conference. She says it is important to know reading doesn’t start when a child enters school. It starts with oral language from birth.

“Celebrating words that it will get the child hooked onto this is something they see themselves as doing as part of living in our society, which is very print-based, and you can’t survive very well if you don’t know how to read,” says Scoffin.

She recalls how her daughter, who is now 12 years old, remembered the word bovine and could not remember why. Scoffin knew it was from a book they had read together eight years earlier.

“Creating a literacy-rich environment for children to grow up in to be able to cope well in our world today is absolutely necessary,” she says.