I often get asked for ways to use books in speech therapy, so I am I am sharing my top ways to use books in speech therapy! Hint - it’s not just reading the book!
Act it Out: This is such an easy way to get kids involved and really understanding the book. You can use books with simple or complex plots (depending on the level of your students) and make it as simple or elaborate as you want! It’s fun to assign different characters to people and use different voices! This will allow you to work on story grammar, verbs, prosody, speech sounds, and grammar.
Create a story kit using manipulatives: Pair books with figurines, pictures, or interactive pieces so that your students have something to do with their busy little hands! Having hands on manipulatives with your story makes it fun to retell the story. You can work on comparing/contrasting, story retell, story grammar, spatial concepts, and concepts same/different.
Use books with flaps, touchy parts, or actions: Some books are more engaging than others - especially for toddlers and preschoolers - and that’s okay! Choosing books that have an interactive component is often key for these kids - check out this blog post for the best books for speech therapy! This is a great way to work on turn taking, joint attention, and pre literacy skills.
Use for Auditory Bombardment: Choose a book that is loaded with your student’s target sound and model and highlight the sound for your student. Bonus if you get the child to say some of the target words while you’re reading the story!
Talk about the pictures: A perfect activity for sentence expansion! Use early language stimulating strategies when labelling and talking about what’s going on in the pictures. You can also work on wh questions, describing, comparing/contrasting, vocabulary, grammar, and so much more!
Use Repetitive Books: There are so many advantages to using repetitive books and ways you can use them. Check out this blog for tonnes of ideas! Feel free to check out this freebie repetitive story for speech therapy.
I hope you find these tips helpful when using books in speech therapy with your students!
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