Bridging the gap: a collaborative approach to developing an oral language program for early primary children

It is well documented that children with language deficits may also demonstrate reading problems. There is a growing concern to both identify children with weak or poor communication skills at an early age and to implement intervention strategies that minimize the risk for later reading failures. The purpose of this project was to explore ways an administrator, the primary teachers, the speech-language pathologist and an academic consultant could collaborate in a curriculum development process and together design a developmental list of ora/language skills for children from pre-entry to grade two. Both the nature of collaboration and ora/language development are reviewed. Implications for future considerations are also discussed.