Text speak (or, rather, TXT SP3EAK) not only doesn't harm literacy in children, researchers have found, but its use is actually positively correlated with their language and reading skills. According to a study published in the March 2009 issue of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, children who use "textisms" on mobile phones tend to have a better grasp of (normal) word reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, even when controlled for age, memory, and how long they have owned a phone.

Researchers Beverly Plester, Clare Wood, and Puja Joshi studied the texting behavior of 88 British children between the ages of 10 and 12 and how it related to their school literacy skills. They gave the kids 10 different scenarios and asked them to write text messages to describe each situation; their textisms were split into categories (shortenings, contractions, acronyms, symbols, non-conventional spellings, etc.) and analyzed for their use of language as it compared to their school performance.