Best-Ever Books for Speech Therapy- Press Here

I love using children’s books in speech therapy.

Do you know that euphoric feeling when you finish a session and say, “Wow! That was terrific!”  You feel that you thoroughly addressed your student’s goals and everyone was truly engaged.  I often get that warm fuzzy when I use storybooks in our session. Whether used as the focal point, or jumping-off point, children’s literature is perfect for speech therapy.

Maybe you are just getting started incorporating literature into your sessions, or maybe you are already a fan, and would like to discover more great stories to use. Either way, I would love to share with you some of my very favorite storybooks and how I use them in speech therapy.

You can find storybooks for nearly any speech and language target, 

but it can be a challenge searching and reading through them at the library, to find books for specific targets. I plan to make it easy for you, by regularly featuring storybooks that are terrific finds for therapy (And classroom too!).

My caseload consists of age 3 through fourth graders, so you can expect I will cover books for that age group. I will be covering lots of language ideas, and some articulation too!

Why use storybooks in speech therapy?

1. BUDGET-FRIENDLY– Storybooks are the perfect therapy tools, and so many are available for free in your school or local library. FREE. Yep, I like that. Especially since my speech therapy budget is “Ahem!” Well…. let’s just say non-existent!

2. SUPPORTS LITERACY– Books make including literacy in your therapy a breeze. Point out titles, text, story elements:characters, settings, problem, solution.

3. HIGH INTEREST– Great books captivate children’s interest, allow you to incorporate themes, favorite topics, and seasonal topics too.

 4. REPEATED PRACTICE -Great for repetitive practice. My young kiddos especially LOVE to read and re-read their favorites, which is excellent for comprehension. Story re-tell, wh questions….. tons of therapy gold there.

5. EASY TO MODIFY – Modify your leterature -based therapy up or down for mixed groups and special needs. Pre-teach vocabulary, modify your reading rate, add pauses for processing, simplify wording as you read, ready-made visual supports in illustrations.

4. HOME PRACTICE – Storybooks are perfect for parents too.

Now on to our book review:

Today’s find is Press Here by Herve’ Tullet.

Do you have kids working on verbs?

This imaginative story is jam-packed with verbs and your kids can join in the action using the book itself. Press here. More dots appear!

 Tap this, rub there,shake it!

Now blow….. each time I turn the page to see what “happened” my preschoolers squeal with delight. What a perfect way to talk about past tense too!  “Press here. What did you do?” Work on pronouns: ” Kyle tapped the yellow dot. What did he do?” We also love to predict what will happen before we turn the page.

The primary-colored dots totally captivate my kids. Ok, me too! I couldn’t wait to turn the page and see what happened next.

There are lots of ways to extend the book. 

You can shake the book. What else can you shake? Tap? Blow on? What happened when you tilted the page?

Bring in different things to shake: a maraca, a tambourine, rainstick,  baggies or plastic jars (large medicine bottles work well) with beans or marbles, another filled with water and colored oil, another with flour or sand. Shake them, guess what’s inside if you can’t see it. Are they the same? How are they different?

Goals You Can Target with Press Here.

1. Verbs- present and past-tense
2. Wh question- What happened?”
3. Prediction
4. Quantity vocabulary: more
5. Size vocabulary: small, medium, large

Looking for books that repetitively feature articulation targets?

I have a list of my favorites for articulation targets that you can download for free… Read about it in my post here: Sound-Loaded Books for Articulation.

Click Here

If you love storybooks, be sure to follow me and stop back often. 

I will reviewing more of my favorites, and you are sure to find some therapy gold for your speech room!