This post is all about using books in speech therapy! Books can be used to target a variety of goals, get children interested in reading, and expose them to a variety of books! Many children struggle with reading and don't get a lot of exposure at home or in their early years. The more exposure, the better! So why not include books into your therapy sessions? If your wondering how, here are some tips!
1. BOOK SELECTION: Choosing the right book may seem difficult. It depends on your students level. For students who are working on simply attending to a story, book orientation, turning pages properly, and pointing out basic objects, I suggest using the Spot books. They are short, simple, and lifting the flap can be interactive and fun! For students who are working on a variety of goals, more complex books can be used. I try to look for books that have a beginning, middle, and end. A moral or lesson to the story is also good.
Look at the vocabulary of the story. You may want the book to have a few new words but it shouldn't be so challenging that the student misses the content. I also look at length. Speech therapy sessions are usually short, so you want to try and avoid longer books. I typically use books to address goals, therefore, you want time to actually address those goals within the session!
2. GOAL SELECTION: ALWAYS pre-read the book! When I look at books, the wheels are turning as to which goals can be addressed. Often multiple goals can be addressed through one book. For this reason, I have found it helpful to use books as units. This is something that was introduced to me in grad school. You can spend two-three sessions working on one book to really drive home the skills you are working on! Here are some ideas I usually think of when looking at books:
Articulation: If your student can read, look at the difficulty level and the number of targets. If not. Look at the pictures! You can encourage students to tell their own story by looking at the pictures. This is a great activity for carry-over! You can also play "I Spy" with the pictures (perfect for students working on /s/!). For students at the word level, pull out vocab from the book and work on those words.
Language: there is so much for language! I will by no means cover it all! First and foremost, comprehension. You can ask students comprehension questions as you go and/or after the story. You can also ask students to make predictions while reading. Retelling the story is a great skill as well. Visuals aids are often helpful when beginning to learn this skill. Another skill to target is sequencing events from the story. Having picture cards that correlate to the book is an easy way to address this. You can use books to target answering yes/no and wh- questions. You can use manipulatives related to the story to target following directions. You can target pronouns and correct grammar with the sentences from the story. You can use vocabulary from the story to teach new words. Talk about describing items, synonyms, antonyms, and multiple meaning words.
Pre-literacy skills: correct book orientation. Identifying the title and author on the cover. You can talk about the title page and where the sentences are in the story. The correct way to turn pages (I.e. Not flipping all over the place). Reading the words from left to right. Rhyming skills. You can use pause prompts to encourage students to fill in the blanks. For repetitive books, have the student read the same word on each page (I.e car or ball). Use pause prompts to help them know when to say the word.
Social skills: Books are a great way to address social skills. You can identify emotions within the book. Talk about how characters feel and why. Propose alternative events and talk about how the characters would feel then. You can also have the students relate the characters experiences to their own lives and times when they felt that way. Another target is brainstorming how to solve certain social situations related to the story.
3. READING THE STORY: don't just read it! Get into it...the more fun you have the more the kids will enjoy it. Also find other ways to tell the story. Look for YouTube videos of animations people have made or the authors reading the story. If your really ambitious, you can use puppets to retell the story,
4. INCORPORATE THE STORY IN OTHER ACTIVITIES: You can include crafts and games related to the book to make it fun! Remaking the book so that your students can be "in" it can also be fun! You can also use songs. Kids love learning new songs and you can often find a few just by doing a quick Google search! Print the songs in rebus format to help the kids "read" the lyrics. Hand motions are also a fun way to make the words stick!
5. TAKE HOME: Provide the students with something to take home; students often love bringing things home to show their parents and it can also help with carryover! It may be the craft you made, a copy of the song, or some of the students work they did that address their targets. Depending on the situation, it may be helpful to suggest additional activities for parents to do at home, like going to the library and checking out that book, or making something from the story (I.e a recipe or craft).
So there you have it! Just some ideas to get you going! Books can provide inspiration for hours of therapy! Get creative and use themes and activities from books and go from there! It is also helpful to target one or two books students are reading within their regular classroom...again, carryover!
If your looking for some ideas for fall-themed books here are some of my favorites: When The Leaf Blew In, If You Give A Moose A Muffin, Bear Gives Thanks (or any of the Bear books!), The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid Of Anything, Halloween Night, I Need My Monster, and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat/Pie.
One place to find great book companions is on Teachers Pay Teachers. Many of the SLP sellers have book companion packs that address a variety of speech and language goals! There are so many out there! Try searching the title of the book you want to use!
This is by no mean an exhaustive list! I'd love to hear how you incorporate books in your speech rooms!
Adventure Awaits!
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