book for speech therapy

10 Must-Have Textbooks for Adult Speech Therapy

 7 min read

When you’re in grad school, all textbooks look the same: required. You spend a fortune (usually borrowed money) and read as little as you have to in order to pass the test. Then real life hits. You have patients with problems you’ve never seen, and you need help. You rush back to those textbooks to find answers, but you only have one or two that actually deal with adult communication. So what now?

I recommend that you buy a few new textbooks for yourself. Not because they’re required, but because they’re useful. Sure, there’s a lot of information available online, but nowhere will you find everything laid out as clearly and comprehensively as you will in a book.

Here are my top 10 recommendations for speech pathology textbooks (all published in 2010 or later) you’ll really  want  to read once you’re working in the field of adult communication disorders:

Textbooks on Aphasia

1) manual of aphasia and aphasia therapy, by nancy helm-estabrooks, martin l. albert, & marjorie nicholas; 2013 (3rd ed.).

Want to know what to do for perseveration? Wernicke’s aphasia? improving non-verbal expression? This book has 16 chapters dedicated to specific treatment procedures, along with just as much content explaining foundations, assessment, and goal-setting for aphasia. It truly is a manual for aphasia treatment, and it is frequently referenced in our  “How To” articles  that makes many of these treatments more accessible. (The book also comes with a DVD, but sadly, I no longer have a DVD drive available to use it.)

[*affiliate link)

2) Aphasia Rehabilitation: Clinical Challenges

By patrick coppens & janet patterson; 2017 (1st ed.).

This newer book gets at the tough cases: perseveration, paraphasia, agrammatism. It tackles real-life challenges: intensity, motivation, and incorporating EBP. This is an advanced text for practicing clinicians that helps you problem-solve the questions you have in daily clinical life. While I don’t own it yet, it’s at the top of my wish list.

[*affiliate link]

Textbooks on Cognitive-Communication

3) optimizing cognitive rehabilitation: effective instructional methods, by mckay moore sohlberg & lyn turkstra; 2011 (1st ed.).

If you work in brain injury rehab, you need to have this book. It shows you how to teach someone to use a strategy, rather than just telling you which strategies to use. SLPs are rarely given enough training in educational methods, especially those who study for a medical career. I know my practice changed after hearing the authors speak on this topic and after reading this book. I bet yours will too.

4) The Right Hemisphere and Disorders of Cognition and Communication: Theory and Clinical Practice

By margaret lehman blake; 2017 (1st ed.).

Right hemisphere disorders are often missed and go untreated. But if you catch one, what do you do? Dr. Blake offers the first textbook dedicated to the topic. While there is not a huge literature base for treating right hemisphere disorders after stroke or brain injury, she offers what is known to help clinicians better manage these patients.

5) Cognitive Rehabilitation Manual: Translating Evidence-Based Recommendations into Practice

By edmund c. haskins et al.; 2012 (1st ed.).

Clinicians swear by this book, filled with evidence-based treatments for brain injury. Each research-based intervention is broken down into step-by-step directions for rehab professionals (SLP, OT, Psych). If you want more training in these techniques, there are  in-person and online courses  that include the manual offered through ACRM.

6) Dementia: Person-Centered Assessment and Intervention

By ellen hickey & michelle bourgeois; 2017 (2nd ed.).

I don’t remember even hearing the word “dementia” in my graduate training, and yet there are SLPs for whom people with dementia comprise nearly 100% of their caseload. Too often, the restorative techniques that apply to brain injury and stroke are applied to those with dementia, which can result in frustration all around as degenerative disorders need a different approach. Drs. Hickey and Bourgeois offer amazing advice in their newly updated textbook to help SLPs assess and treat people with dementia in a more appropriate and effective way.

Bonus Pick: Not a speech textbook, but a manual for practicing rehab clinicians,  A Clinician’s Guide to Successful Evaluation and Treatment of Dementia  published by Northern Speech Services in 2016 is a handy reference for SLPs, OTs, and PTs working in skilled nursing facilities.

Textbooks on Dysarthria

7) motor speech disorders: substrates, differential diagnosis, and management, by joseph r. duffy; 2012 (3rd ed.).

This is an updated version of the Duffy textbook I would have been required to buy, had I opted to take the Motor Speech Disorders elective in my program. That’s right: elective. That means I got out into the world with no clue how to diagnose or treat dysarthria. I borrowed this book from a colleague and embarked on some serious self-study. This book is the go-to resource for dysarthria diagnosis with lots of helpful charts for characteristics for differential diagnosis. There are helpful bonus features online so you can actually hear the different features.

8) Management of Motor Speech Disorders in Children and Adults

By kathryn m. yorkston, david r. beukelman, edythe a. strand, & mark hakel; 2010 (3rd ed.).

This was the first textbook I bought that wasn’t required as I realized I needed help in actually treating dysarthria. A whole book dedicated to treatment! It complements the Duffy textbook nicely, as that one is primarily focused on diagnosis. If you don’t know what to do when treating motor speech disorders (apraxia included), this would be a great addition to your bookshelf for quick reference.

Textbooks on AAC

9) supporting communication for adults with acute and chronic aphasia, by nina simmons-mackie, julia king, & david beukelman; 2013 (1st ed.).

Oh, how I wish this book were required reading for anyone working with people with aphasia. Many clinicians will confess they do not feel confident with AAC, and many ask “what’s the best AAC app for aphasia?” This book will help you understand that the best AAC is often not an app or device, but rather a variety of tools and strategies that support adults in communication. I hope there is an update coming that will better address the range of technology options that are now available, but this is a great lifeline for clinicians who feel lost.

Textbooks on Counseling

10) counseling in communication disorders: a wellness perspective, by audrey holland & ryan nelson; 2018 (3rd ed.).

Every patient with a communication disorder needs education and counseling at some point, often frequently. This is the book that will help you provide the right kind of support at the right time. Dr. Audrey Holland explains the positive psychology approach along with updated research in this brand new edition of a classic book.

Honorable Mentions:

A) Aphasia and Related Neurogenic Communication Disorders  by Ilias Papathanasiou & Patrick Coppens; 2016 (2nd Ed.) [*affiliate link]

B) Aphasia and Other Acquired Neurogenic Language Disorders: A Guide for Clinical Excellence  by Brooke Hallowell; 2017 (1st Ed.) [*affiliate link]

C) Language Intervention Strategies in Aphasia and Related Neurogenic Communication Disorders   by Roberta Chapey; 2008 (5th Ed.) [*affiliate link]

Excellent books for students and new clinicians that cover many aspects of all acquired communication disorders from theory to assessment to treatment. If you’re a student using these books in your coursework, hang on to them for your professional reference library. They are perhaps a bit too broad for a new purchase by practicing clinicians, but they are filled with valuable information written by top experts in the field. If you are new to the area of adult communication and want just one book to refresh on all areas, then these are for you.

But What About Dysphagia Textbooks?

I know that medical SLPs need to know a LOT about swallowing disorders, and that’s why we created our  Dysphagia Therapy  app. My passion is communication, so that is what I spend my time reading about.  I happen to have some wonderful colleagues who specialize in dysphagia, so I refer you to Theresa Richard’s  top recommendations for dysphagia textbooks .

A “Textbook” for Families

Finally, if you are a family member or loved one of a person living with a communication disorder, you may want to learn as much as you can to help the person in your life. You don’t need a professional textbook to help just one person, but you may benefit from reading stories of other people in your situation.  Healing the Broken Brain: Leading Experts Answer 100 Questions about Stroke Recovery  is an excellent place to start if a stroke has hit your family.

* We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com. If you are interested in the products above, please use these links to help support this site. We will only share products that we believe to be truly useful or evidence-based.

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Megan S. Sutton , MS, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist and co-founder of Tactus Therapy. She is an international speaker, writer, and educator on the use of technology in adult medical speech therapy. Megan believes that technology plays a critical role in improving aphasia outcomes and humanizing clinical services.

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4+ Awesome Help Books for Speech Therapy You Should Read

This article contains the ultimate list of help books for speech therapy!  Books can be powerful tools to use in speech therapy. You can use books with younger students and older children. This post lists my favorite books for individual or group therapy sessions. There are interactive books, picture books, board books, and more. Your students will enjoy each recommended story. This article also recommends help books for speech-language pathologists (professional development help books, therapy tools, and more). There are so many great resources available to speech therapists! Make sure to bookmark this post so you can refer to it often. 

This post contains amazon affiliate links, which means we could receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended.

Help Books for Speech Therapy Must-Haves

Here are help books for speech therapy that I recommend for professional development purposes, as well as therapy books for SLPs.

These recommendations include a comprehensive guide for articulation and motor speech, a comprehensive word list book that is organized by syllables, letters, and sounds, a language modeling strategy book for toddlers, and a helpful resource for learning to treat childhood apraxia of speech.

Each help book for speech therapy would be a useful resource.

Keep reading to see which book you should add to your speech therapy library.

The Marshalla Guide by Pam Marshalla

SLPs looking for a comprehensive guide that covers articulation and motor speech disorders-  here it is . 

This resource contains nearly 500 pages-  yes, you read that correctly – of strategies and tips.

Pam Marshalla also referenced the historical context of treatment approaches.

The book is organized into three parts, including traditional approaches, speech movement methods, and teaching phonemes.

40,000 Selected Words by Valeda D. Blockcolsky

Oh. My. Goodness.

This book  is a must-have in your therapy toolkit.

Trying to find medial consonant clusters?

There’s here.

Need words organized by syllables?

Yep. It’s all there.

This book is incredible. It contains so many different words (okay, well,  40,000  to be exact) that you’ll never run out of ideas for therapy.

If you’re treating articulation disorders, this go-to book can be paired with literally  any game or activity .

My Toddler Talks by Kimberly Scanlon

I can’t tell you how many parents I have recommended this help book for speech therapy to! 

This book is written by a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist, Kimberly Scanlon.

My Toddler Talks  is beneficial for speech-language pathologists and parents.

It explains how to model and elicit language during play in a relaxed, easy-to-follow way.

For example, it reviews how to model language while blowing bubbles.

There are many different ways to infuse language modeling throughout play and daily routines.

This book will show you how!

The SLP’s Guide to Treating Childhood Apraxia of Speech by Cari Ebert

If you work in early intervention or preschool,  you will want this book .

In fact, I would go so far as to say you  need  this book.

It breaks down childhood apraxia of speech clearly and concisely and recommends goal ideas.

Not feeling confident treating CAS (childhood apraxia of speech)? This book is the answer.

Learn more about completing a childhood apraxia of speech evaluation here .

How To Help Books for Speech Therapy

There are many ways that speech therapists can use books to address communication skills in speech therapy.

Receptive and expressive language skills, as well as articulation, can be addressed easily using books.

Here are some easy ways to target goals in speech therapy using a book.

• select a small number of  vocabulary words  from the story to target
• provide kid-friendly definitions for target vocabulary words from the story
• stop and ask  wh questions  during the story
• choose  sound-loaded books  to address articulation or phonology goals
• discuss story elements
• pair pictures from the story in a sensory bin, pull them out, and describe them after reading the story
• use books for story-retelling tasks
• target  sentence structure  during story retell tasks or when describing pictures on page
• ask inference questions
• discuss cause-and-effect
• ask prediction questions- such as, ‘What do you think will happen next?’ 

Best Children’s Help Books for Speech Therapy

The previous section specifically recommended help books for speech therapy. This included professional resources and resources that may be useful in therapy, such as a word list book.

This section recommends books to read to children.

Speech-language pathologists are often searching for the best children’s books for young children.

Storytime is a great way to engage students!

Books are an effective way to target language concepts and speech sounds in the early childhood population and with older students, too.

SLPs may read books during story time or individual or group therapy sessions.

They are also ideal for circle time or centers.

Books can provide a way to address auditory bombardment of speech sounds, vocabulary development, wh questions, spatial concepts, and more.

Board Books

Early intervention slps will want to add Leslie Patricelli board books to their therapy toolkit.

Start with  No No, Yes Yes .

This book is a fun way to work on imitating actions (such as shaking your head no or giving a thumbs up or thumbs down).

The simple illustrations are engaging for young listeners.

These books are perfect for children with language delays and for addressing joint attention.

I have found great success taking these books into preschool special education classrooms.

I like to read them during circle time or centers to my students.

We sit in a circle as I read the story.

My students have a wonderful time imitating the gestures, sounds, or words included in the story.

These books are wonderful for students who cannot yet sit for a long story.

It is a fun way to expose children to books and emergent literacy skills.

Interactive Books

Interactive books are a great way to keep children engaged during speech therapy sessions. These help books for speech therapy are fun and make targeting early speech and language skills much easier.

My favorite interactive book is  Don’t Push the Button  by Bill Cotter. 

In fact, this is one of my daughter’s requests to read all the time.

I think we have almost every holiday-themed sequel! 

Every page provides a fun, interactive way to include your student in the story.

Your student may be asked to push a button, make loud noises, or scratch a monster’s tummy.

When I read, “Don’t even think about it” about pushing the button, my daughter likes to respond, “I am. I’m thinking about it!”

There’s a good reason I’ve purchased so many books in this series!

My students adore every book written by Bill Cotter.

I know that yours will too.

Picture Books

There are so many wonderful picture books to choose from!

Picture books provide fun, bright illustrations. 

Many contain repetitive text.

They offer an easy way to foster language development in an engaging manner. There are a few help books for speech therapy in this section I recommend.

Little Blue Truck Series

One of my favorite series is the  Little Blue Truck  series by Alice Schertle. Include this book in your therapy planning if you’re trying to target farm animal vocabulary.

It contains bright illustrations and is an easy way to target so many language goals. 

This series is perfect for the preschool age group.

Turkey Trouble Series

The  Turkey Trouble book  by Wendi Silvano is a great choice to read with elementary students (and even some preschoolers).

This is an engaging story about a turkey who tries to disguise himself to escape being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.

This  book companion bundle  available on tpt provides an easy way to target a variety of communication skills in speech and language therapy.

Sara reviewed, “Great resources! Students enjoy retelling the story with the sliding turkey and different disguises. The materials make therapy very fun!”

What Should Danny Do? The Power to Choose Series

Awhile ago, I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Well, it is awesome! I read it often with my own children.

I enjoyed it so much that I purchased the  School Day version .

What Should Danny Do?  allows children to see how making a choice-  any  choice- impacts their day.

At the bottom of a page, they will be asked, “What should Danny do?” and be provided with options.

This book is great for teaching social-emotional skills.

Every action has a consequence, whether positive or negative.

This book provides a visual way for children to see this. 

Speech Therapy Books for Older Students

Here are speech and language book recommendations for older students.

The Amulet Series

Are you searching for speech therapy books for older students?

Many students enjoy graphic novels.

One series speech pathologists and teachers may wish to check out is  The Amulet Series . 

There’s a reason this is a New York Times Bestseller Series!

It combines fantasy, science fiction, an engaging storyline and awesome illustrations. 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Want to teach your students about kindness?

Wonder  is a touching story about a boy who has a cranio-facial abnormality.

He has been homeschooled, but now he is starting middle school.

This engaging story will make you both laugh and cry.

Book Lists for Additional Ideas

I’ve shared a favorite book (or two) in this blog post in each category.

However, I have a complete list available if you’re searching for even more books to complete your therapy library.

If you work with early intervention, preschool, or early elementary students  check out this book list .  There is tons of additional information provided in that list.

Do you work with older children?  This book list contains suggestions for 4th and 5th grade .

Help Books for Speech Therapy Summary

In summary, this article recommended a variety of help books for speech therapy.

Help Books for Speech Therapy Recommendations List:

• The Marshalla Guide  by Pam Marshalla
• 40,000 Selected Words  by Valeda D. Blockcolsky
• My Toddler Talks  by Kimberly Scanlon
• The SLP’s Guide to Treating Childhood Apraxia of Speech  by Cari Ebert

Recommended children’s books included:

• Leslie Patricelli board books for early intervention
• Bill Cotter books set (Don’t Push the Button series)
• The Little Blue Truck Series- by Alice Schertle 
• The Turkey Trouble  Series by Wendi Silvano
• What Should Danny Do?  The Power to Choose Series by Adir Levy 
• The Amulet Series  by Kazu Kibuishi 
• Wonder  by R.J. Palacio

Want to see more book lists? Check out these related articles:

• 10 Tested (and Cheap) Preschool Books to Boost Language Skills
• Children’s Books for Speech Therapy: The Ultimate List
• BEST Books for Speech Therapy: 4th and 5th Grade

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15+ Best Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

I’m excited to share today’s blog post outlining a few of my favorite interactive books for speech therapy and some great ways Speech-Language Pathologists can use them in their speech therapy sessions. 

In addition, I’ve included digital versions of the following books.

Interactive Speech Therapy Books

Here is a list of over 15 of the best children’s books perfect for a speech therapist or parent looking for a fun and engaged way of working on different articulation and language skills.

Be sure to check out the additional free supplemental resources at the bottom of this page and add some of these interactive books to your school supplies list this year.

**Please be sure to preview the digital versions of the books prior to reading or watching with your child or student. I have previewed all the videos myself, but you know your child or student best and your/their comfort levels with different words or visual illustrations.**

1. Dear Zoo – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

Dear Zoo is a highly engaging flap book about a young boy who writes to the zoo asking them to send him a pet. The illustrations along with the lifting of the flaps helps to encourage joint attention in a fun and interactive way.

Articulation

• B Initial – This book is perfect for working on the b sound because on every page you send the animal ‘back’ and each animal comes in a ‘box’.

Language Skills

• Basic Concepts – You can have the child or student work on the concepts ‘ open ’ and ‘ close ’ as they use the flaps. In addition, each animal is given a description, such as “the elephant is too big ” or “the giraffe is too tall ” allowing the student to work on even more concepts.
• Answering WH-Questions – This book is perfect for wh-questions. For example, after reading the story together you could ask, “Why couldn’t the boy keep the giraffe for a pet?” The child could then answer, “Because the giraffe is too tall and it couldn’t fit through the front door of the house.”
• Answering Yes/No Questions – As you go through the story you could point to an animal and then ask a yes or no question about that specific animal. For example, you could point to the elephant and ask is an elephant purple?
• Vocabulary – You can have your child or student practice filling in the blanks at the end of the repetitive sentences by naming the animal under the flaps.
• Symbolic Noises – Have your child identify the different animal sounds as you come across each animal in the story. 
• Multisyllabic Words – Another fun activity you could try would be to count or clap out the number of syllables in naming each animal. For example, el-e-phant has 3 syllables.
• Categorization – Categorization is a great vocabulary activity. Have your child or student identify animals that fall into all three animal categories of pets, farm animals, and zoo animals. If you have some play animals you could have the child practice separating out the play animals into different categories.
• Reasoning Skills – You could also work on reasoning skills by asking your student what their favorite animal is and have them explain why it is their favorite animal.

Digital Version of Dear Zoo

2. Press Here – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

Press Here is one of the most favorite books amongst speech therapists working in the special education population and a huge hit with the littles. This story is a fun imaginative story filled with verbs allowing your child to work on their fine motor skills of following the directions of the action given, such as press here and then making more dots appear. 

• Colors – This book is great for your young children working on identifying colors. Simply give them a simple direction, such as “Tap the red dot.”
• Following Directions – Read the story and have your student follow the 1-step directions. For example, “blow on the page” or “tap the circle.” Some of the directions do get a little more complex, such as “tap only the yellow circles” or “tilt the book to the left”.
• Basic Concepts – Descriptive Concepts (small, medium, large, colors, gently, hard), Quantity Concepts (counting, all, just, only, more, once, twice), Location Concepts (left, right, middle).
• Vocabulary Action Verbs – shake, tap, blow, rub, turn, tilt, or clap.
• Past Tense Verbs – Have the student retell what action they or their classmate just took. For example, Sam could say, “Jason just tapped the red dot.”
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students simple questions about what they or their classmates just did. For example, “What color of dot did you just tap?” 
• Predicting – Have the child or student try to predict what will happen before you turn the page. “What do you think will happen next?” My students always loved the fun element of surprise when reading this story.
• Expressive Language – Have your student explain what happened on each page. For example, if you have them tap the red circle 5 times and the next page shows 5 red circles in a line your student could explain that when they tapped the red circle 5 times it made 5 individual circles appear on the following page. 

Digital Version of Press Here

3. Pete the Cat Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Pete the Cat Old MacDonald Had a Farm is a fun twist on a classic book that is perfect for your preschool students. 

• K Sound – cows, cats, cock-a-doodle, MacDonald, ducks, turkeys, donkeys, cluck, oink, quack, honk
• M Sound – moo, meow, maa, MacDonald, farm
• F Sound – farm
• Z Final – dogs, cows, pigs, turkeys, donkeys, frogs
• S Final – chickens, horses, cats, goats, ducks, roosters, geese, 
• Vocabulary Farm Animals – As you go through the story have your child or student label the different animals. You could do this by singing the song and then pausing to let the child fill in the blank with the animal name. If they don’t know that animal yet you can then label it and then see if they can label it again with you. 
• Regular Plurals & Irregular Plurals – Have your student identify the plural form of each animal as you read the story. (chickens, dogs, cows, pigs, horses, cats, goats, ducks, turkeys, roosters, donkeys, frogs, sheep, and geese)
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students simple wh-questions starting with “who”, “what”, and “where” are the easiest. For example, “what does a pig say?”, “where is the turtle?”, or “who is driving the truck?”
• Identify Attributes – Have your student identify the different attributes of the farm animals, such as sizes and colors. For example, the horse is big and brown.

Language Expansion

If you have toy farm animals, paper pieces, felt pieces, a barn, or even just stickers to play with then here are a few additional ideas to expand on the book activity.

• Following Directions – Give the student a 1-step or 2-step direction to follow using their farm animal. For example, have the horse jump over the fence. 
• Spatial Concepts – Have the student practice putting different animals, “in”, “out”, “beside”, “under”, “behind”, or “on” the barn.
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask even more questions that are discussed in the actual story about a farm. For example, “When does a rooster crow?, “Who works on a farm?”, “What animals say ‘quack’?”
• Identify Body Parts – Take an animal and have your child or student name different body parts on the animal, such as ‘tail’, ‘ears’, ‘beak’, ‘hooves’, ‘paws’, etc.

Digital Version

4. Where is Spot – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

Where is Spot is a great way to work on language development as children try to find Spot throughout this fun and engaging flip book.  

• S & S-Blends – Sally (Spot’s mom), s-s-s (snake sound), Spot, snake, stairs.
• B Initial – bag, behind, bed, bear, box, basket, blanket, baby, book, boy.
• D Sound – door, dinner, under, bed.
• T Sound – time, naughty, basket, Spot, eat, blanket.
• Vocabulary Animal Names – As you go through the story have your child or student label the different animals.
• Prepositions – Have the student identify where the different animals are in the story. For example, “under the bed” or “in the box”. 
• Answering Yes/No Questions – Practice asking yes or no questions, such as “Is that Spot?” or “Is that animal a monkey?”
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students wh-questions. For example, “who is under the bed?” or “where is the monkey hiding?”
• Requesting – You could also have your child request to listen to more of the story or to open the flap.
• Predicting – Have the child or student try to predict the next part of the story. “What do you think will happen next?”

5. Goodnight Moon – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

Goodnight Moon is perfect for all of those language concepts on your caseload. The repetitive text helps children to anticipate what might come next in the story. 

• B Sound – bear, bowl, balloon
• G Sound & G-Blends – goodnight, great, green
• L Sound – little, light, lady, old, telephone, balloon, bowl, full
• M Sound – mitten, mouse, mush, moon, jumping, comb, room
• Vocabulary – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different household items, toys, animals, and clothing. (moon, light, clock, sock, star, bear, chair, red balloon, cow, telephone, mittens, toy house, comb, house, and brush).
• Prepositions – There is a mouse hidden in every picture which is great for working on prepositional phrases.
• Colors – This book is great for your young children working on identifying colors. Simply have them sort the different vocabulary words by color.
• Categorization – As you read the story, have your student category sort the different vocabulary words into one of the following categories, such as toys, clothing, animal, or furniture.

Here are a few additional ideas to expand on the book activity.

• Categorization – Give your child or student a room within their school or their house and have them say night night while naming 3-5 objects within each room. For example, if you give them the kitchen they could say, “night night refrigerator”, “night night oven”, “night night toaster”, etc. 
• Following Directions – If you have a playhouse or toy animals you could give the student a 1-step or 2-step direction to follow using the toy objects. For example, “put the bear on the chair.” 

6. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear is a fun and adaptive book that you can use to work on animal vocabulary, animal sounds, sequencing, and answering wh-questions. This story is similar to Brown Bear, Brown Bear in that each animal introduces the next animal and the sound it makes.

• Vocalic R – roaring, leopard, ear, snorting, snarling, hear, polar bear, boa constrictor, zookeeper
• Initial H – hear, hippopotamus, hissing
• L Sound – lion, leopard, flamingo, elephant, snarling, yelping, walrus, bellowing, whistling, children, growling, polar bear, fluting, 
• Vocabulary Animal Names – As you go through the story have your child or student label the different animals (lion, polar bear, hippo, zebra, snake “boa constrictor”, elephant, peacock, leopard, walrus, and flamingo).
• Answering WH-Questions – Answering the question, “[animal name] what do you hear?”

Here is an additional idea to expand on the book activity.

• Categorization – If you have some play animals you could have the child practice separating out the play animals into different categories. For example, you could have your child or student identify animals that fall into all three animal categories of pets, farm animals, and zoo animals. 

Ends at 3:45

7. Little Blue Truck – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

The Little Blue Truck is perfect for those students working on language intervention, such as phonemic awareness. The story is about a kind little blue truck that helps a very rude construction truck that gets stuck in the mud. The children learn that when you are kind and helpful others will be kind and helpful back. 

• K Sound – cow, chicken, truck, chick, duck, quack, stuck
• G Sound – goat, gallop, pig, big
• D Sound – dump, duck, road, toad, friend
• H Sound – horse, help, honk, heavy, hop
• P Sound – puddle, push, pig, peep, beep, sheep, dump, help, hop
• R Sound – road, room, roll
• R-Blends – truck, green, friendly, brown
• S-Blends – stuck, swerve, scared
• Phonemic Awareness – This is an important skill helping children learn that words can be broken down into individual sounds or phonemes. An effective tool to help learn phonemic awareness is rhyming. This story is filled with rhymes making this story perfect for working on phonemic awareness, a therapy tool that is an important skill needed for reading.
• Vocabulary Animal Names – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different animals.
• Spatial Concepts – The following location words are used in the story, “in”, “on”, “between”, and “next to”.
• Basic Concepts – Descriptive Concepts (big, little, fast, colors, curve, dirty, clean).
• Answering Yes/No Questions – Practice asking yes or no questions, such as “Is the dump truck friendly?” or “Does the little blue truck help the dump truck?” or “Is the dump truck stuck in cement?”
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students wh-questions. For example, “Who got stuck?” or “How did the dump truck get stuck?” or “Where did they get stuck?”
• Categorization – Categorization is a great vocabulary activity. Have your child or student category sort the animals that fall in the farm animal versus the zoo animal categories (giraffe, rhino, cow, sheep, lion, tiger, elephant, horse, or chicken).

Social Skills

• Friendship – This book discusses the importance of being kind and polite to others. You can use this story as a jumping off point to discuss the importance of the life skills needed to be a good friend and what the characteristics are of being a good friend. For example, you could ask the question “What makes the little blue truck a good friend?”
• Color Sorting – If you have toy trucks or cars you could have the child sort the toy trucks and cars by colors. 
• Story Retell – After reading the whole story have your child or student retell what happened in the story. For some extra fun during your story retelling grab these animal finger puppets and little blue truck to help retell the story.

End at 7:50

8. Don’t Push That Button – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

If you’re in need of one of those interactive busy books for your littles then be sure to check out Don’t Push That Button . The story is about a cute purple monster named Larry who is constantly changing from page to page after the child “shakes the book” or “pushes the button”, etc. My students loved how interactive this book is and requested it over and over again.

• L Sound – Larry, look, little, let’s, almost, yellow, polkadot, only, seriously, tickles, couple, rule, all, normal
• SH Sound – should, shake, push, pushed
• T Sound – twice, two, times, tummy, tickles, button, better, pretty, little, extra, scratch, don’t, about, it, can’t, mustn’t, psst, just, polkadot, get, almost, but
• M Sound – my, mustn’t, more, maybe, almost, normal, tummy, times, welcome, name
• N Sound – name, normal, no, nice, now, one, only, think, don’t, can’t, mustn’t, end, button, even, happen, again, fun
• K Sound – kinda, polkadot, okay, tickles, book, think, look, heck, shake, back
• TH Sound – there, think, though
• Following Directions – Have the child or student follow the directions on the page, such as “shake the book”.
• Negations – Discuss what phrases such as “don’t push the button” really mean. Here are a few other negations you could discuss as well (no, not, don’t, can’t, never, none, won’t, nothing).
• Following Mutli-Step Directions – Create your own buttons out of paper in different colors and give your child or student directions to follow. You could even do multi-step directions, such as “tap the blue button before you put the yellow button on top of the green button”.
• Negations – To continue to work on negotiations you could set out 3 different objects and then tell your child or student which object to not pick up. For example, “Don’t pick up the [object name]”.

There are several different holiday versions of this book as well. There is a Halloween , Christmas , and Easter version to add to your thematic lesson plans.

SEE ALSO: 430+ Free Multisyllabic Words List Activity Bundle

9. secrets of the seashore – interactive books for speech therapy.

Secrets of the Seashore is a wonderful Shine-a-Light series within the Usborne books that any child will surely love! I mean what kid doesn’t love using a flashlight? Especially, when you get to use the flashlight to find a hidden animal.

• Vocabulary Ocean Animals – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different animals, such as a crab or the pink dolphin.
• Inferencing – This story is perfect for inferencing because you can have your student use clues from the page to help them guess what animal is hiding. Then once the child or student realizes their answer was correct or wrong you can go back and review the different clues. 

**END Video at 12:56 min.

10. Llama Llama Red Pajama – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

Llama LIama Red Pajama is a great board book to discuss bedtime and how children can experience a lot of different emotions around bedtime. The story illustrates that the little llama is always safe because mama is never far away.

• L Sound – llama, little, loves, listens, alone, always, hollers, pillow, loudly, calls, softly, snuggles
• L-Blends – please, sleep
• R Sound – red, reads, run, right, story, starts, downstairs, whimpers, dark, covers, hair, near, here
• R-Blends – fret, drama
• Story Retell – After reading the whole story have your child or student retell what happened in the story.
• Sequence Your Bedtime Routine – Have your students draw to review what their bedtime routine looks like and have them sequence out the events.
• Emotion Vocabulary  – Read through the story and discuss all the different emotion words and their meanings. (alone, fret, moan, pouts, shouts, weeping, wailing, and being patient).
• Discuss Appropriate Reactions  – This book demonstrates how little llama is impatient when his mama doesn’t come right back. You can use this opportunity to discuss other ways that you can practice patience while you wait. For example, taking deep breaths, counting to ten, telling yourself a story, etc. 

Ends at 4:45

11. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is perfect if you’re looking for a repetitive text that follows a family getting out into nature and exploring the world before coming back home.

• B Sound – bed, beautiful, bear, big, back, bedroom, and stumble.
• S-Blends – snowstorm, stairs, splosh, splash, swishy-swashy, stumble, squelch, squerch, and scared. 
• K Sound – cave, covers, catch, can’t, back, dark, and thick.
• W Sound – wavy, wet, we’re, what, whirling, and we.
• Story Retell/Sequencing – Due to the repetitive nature of the book along with a clear sequence of events makes this story a great one for story retelling/sequencing.
• Spatial Concepts – Have the student practice putting the bear, “over”, “under”, “through”, “up”, and “down”. You can grab a bear cutout here .
• Descriptive Words/Opposites – As you come across the different descriptive words throughout the text have your students identify the opposites for example, long/short, cold/hot, deep/shallow, wavy/straight, thick/thin, big/little, dark/bright, wet/dry, narrow/wide.
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students wh-questions. For example, “who is going on a bear hunt?”, “what animal are they hunting?”, “where are they now?”
• Vocabulary – As you go through the story have your child or student label the different nature nouns (snowstorm, bear, mud, cave, grass, river, forest, and trees). You can grab some of these vocabulary words from this Boardmaker Board simply sign in to download your copy here .

This book is filled with different sound effects so here are a few additional ideas to expand on the book activity.

• Sound Effects – Have your child or student act out the different sound effects, such as “splashy river” or “howling snowstorm”.
• Prepositions – Have your child act out the different prepositions (over, under, and through) with hand gestures, or have your child on a bear hunt by printing out some bear pictures or grab a couple of stuffed animal bears and hide them around the house. Then have your child tell you where they found the bears. For example, “the bear was under the chair”.

12. The Little Old Lady That Wasn’t Afraid of Anything

The Little Old Lady That Wasn’t Afraid of Anything is a wonderful interactive story. This story follows a little old lady who goes on a walk through the forest looking for herbs, nuts, and seeds and on her way home meets various clothing items that try to scare her, but she keeps telling them that she is not afraid of anything! 

• L Sound – lady, little, left, long, look, locked, old, walk, silver, suddenly, stumbled, whistled, bravely, silly, middle, wiggle, still
• L-Blends – clomp, gloves, black, clap, closed
• S Sound – seeds, suddenly, so, safe, sat, saw, said, seemed, forest, whispered, whistled, inside, once, nuts, pants, pace, us
• S-Blends – spices, started, stopped, stop, sliver, stumbled, scary, scare
• Z Sound – closed, was, herbs, spices, seeds, shoes, gloves
• R Sound – ran, rocked, afraid, afternoon, forest, orange, early, farther, through, shirt, scary, started, herbs, dark, whispered, garden, sliver, her, far, were, hear, faster, near, door, chair, fire, answer, ear
• T Sound – time, two, talk, tall, afternoon, cottage, started, faster, nuts, pants, startled, brighten, whistled, left, not, went, forest, collect, night, shirt, white, hat, out, quite, fast, sat, quiet, next
• Clothing Vocabulary – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different clothing items (gloves, hat, shoes, pants, shirt).
• Verbs – Have the student retell what action each clothing item took. For example, “The pants wiggled.” To take it one step further you could have the child act out the action verb.
• Answering WH-Questions – Ask your students wh-questions. For example, “Which item goes clap, clap?”, “Why was the old lady in the forest?”, “Where was the old lady headed to after it got dark?”, or “What action does the hat do?”
• Sound Effects – Have your child or student act out the different sound effects, such as “pants wiggling” or “gloves clapping”. (Shoes – stomp your feet, Pants – wiggle your body, Shirt – shake your arms, Hat – nod your head, Gloves – clap your hands).
• Categorization – If you have some play clothes or pictures of clothing items you could have the child practice separating out the clothes into different categories. For example, you could have your child or student identify clothing that falls into summer clothes versus winter clothes. 

SEE ALSO: 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy

13. the mitten – interactive books for speech therapy.

The Mitten is a perfect book to use during early intervention therapy. It’s a beautiful story about a young boy named Nicki who wanted white gloves, however, his grandma Baba was worried that Nicki might lose the white gloves in the snow. She decides to knit them anyways and Nicki does end up losing them in the snow.

It isn’t long before an animal burrows inside to stay warm. He is then followed by a series of forest animals. Lastly, a mouse joins the mitten and sits on the bear’s nose causing the bear to sneeze. All of the animals come exploding out of the mitten. Nicki then finds his missing glove, however, his grandma is confused as to why the mitten is so stretched out. 

• M Sound – mittens, made, mole, moment, moved, muzzle, meadow, mouse, admire, himself, grandmother, commotion, comfortable, plumped, enormous, come, home, warm, came, room, climb, thumb, steam
• N Sound – Nicki, named, new, not, knit, never, next, nose, once, inside, finished, one, grandmother, wasn’t, enormous, until, under, mittens, animals, warned, talons, tunneling, directions, soon, down, began, acorn, ran, mitten
• W Sound – wool, who, white, warned, were, want, went, wriggled, wet, wasn’t, when, will, winter, whiskers, window, burrowed, drowsy, snow, new, saw
• R Sound – rabbit, right, room, rose, first, argue, grandmother, tired, warned, discovered, covered, appeared, disappeared, lumbered, herself, comfortable, warm, attracted, burrowed, kickers, warm, diggers, enormous, force, never, after, admire, winter, over, under, air, badger, bear, bigger
• S-Blend – snow, still, stay, snowshoe, stopped, snuffling, spent, swooped, started, snug, steam, spied, swelled, stretched, space, sneeze, sky, scattered
• Story Retell/Sequencing – Due to the repetitive nature of the book along with a clear sequence of events makes this story a great one for story retelling/sequencing. For example, retell the sequence that the animals entered into the mitten, “First the mole squeezed in, then the hedgehog, next the…”.
• Vocabulary Forest Animals – As you go through the story have your child or student label the different animals, such as hedgehog, snowshoe rabbit, badger, fox, bear, mouse, and owl. 
• Vocabulary Action Verbs – Discuss all the different past tense verbs: hopped, poked, knitted, dropped, swooped, tunneled, snuffled, swelled, lumbered, caught, scattered, and tickled.
• Answering WH-Questions – This book is perfect for wh-questions. For example, “What animal is about to enter the mitten?”, “Why would the mitten be hard to find in the snow?”, “Who lost a mitten?”, or “Why do the animals go inside the mitten?”.
• Spatial Concepts – You can stress the spatial concept of “in” each time an animal goes inside the mitten and then at the end of the story you can stress how all of the animals come “out” of the mitten.
• Superlatives – You could review how the animals go from smallest to bigger and biggest. And how as the animals get bigger the mitten also goes from smallest to bigger, to biggest by the end of the story. 
• Describing – Have the student describe the different animals. For example, the book says that the hedgehog is covered in prickles. You could then have your student or child describe, “What do prickles feel like?” or “What are other things that are prickly?” 
• Complete Sentences – If you have a student working on MLU or using complete sentences you could use the sentence frame “The ________ went inside the mitten.”
• Predicting – Have the child or student try to predict what animal might crawl into the mitten next. “What animal do you think will crawl into the mitten next?” You could also give the student a sentence frame, such as “I predict that the ______ will go inside the mitten next, because _________.”
• Inferencing – Ask your student or child different inferencing questions, such as “Why do you think Baba didn’t want to make Nicki white gloves?”, “What do the animals think when another animal joins the mitten?”, “What does Nicki’s grandma Baba think when he leaves the house?”, “How does Nicki feel when he finds his mitten after it was lost?”, or “Why does Baba smile when she sees the stretched out mitten?”
• Categorization – If you have some play animals you could have the child practice separating out the play animals into different categories. For example, the animals in the story are forest animals so you could have your child or student identify animals that fall into three different animal categories such as forest animals, farm animals, or zoo animals. 
• Basic Concepts – You can have the child or student work on the concepts ‘ big ’ and ‘ small ’ as they compare different animals that enter the mitten. For example, the bear is “ big ” and the mouse is “small” or how one mitten is “small” and the other mitten is stretched out making it “big”.

14. I Went Walking – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

I Went Walking is a perfect book to use for auditory bombardment of the w sound due to the story’s repetitive nature. The story follows a young toddler on a walk who meets different animals along the way and then we get to enjoy his excitement when he realizes that the different animals are following him. 

• W Sound – went, walking, what, saw
• L Sound – looking, yellow, walking, animals, following
• Story Retell/Sequencing – Due to the repetitive nature of the book along with a clear sequence of events makes this story a great one for story retelling/sequencing. For example, retell the sequence that the animals started to follow the toddler.
• Vocabulary Animals – As you go through the story, have your child or student label the different animals, such as a cat, horse, cow, duck, pig, and dog. 
• Answering WH-Questions – This book is perfect for wh-questions. For example, “What animal is red?”, “Who is sitting on the red cow?”, or “Who is petting the cat.”
• Colors – This book is great for your young children working on identifying colors. Simply have the child or student identify the different animal colors. 
• Inferencing – Ask your student or child to make an inference of what animal might be next based on the previous page image, such as “What animal is pink and brown and has hooves?”
• Requesting/Colors – You could do a fun coloring activity where you have the student request different colors to draw the animals from the story (black cat, brown horse, red cow, green duck, pink pig, and yellow dog).

15. The Tiny Seed – Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

The Tiny Seed is a fun story to use during the spring time in therapy. The story is about a tiny seed that grows up once it gets water and sunlight to help it grow. It ends up growing taller than the houses and trees around it. Then at the end of the story, the flower opens up and releases a group of tiny seeds to continue the cycle from seed to plant once again.

• T Sound – tiny, tall, toward, autumn, mountain, water, winter, after, waiting, springtime, eaten, footsteps, melts, petals, hot, rest, fast, desert, burst, fat, sunlight, giant, bright
• S Sound – seed, sun, sails, settle, soft, sunlight, summer, seven, icy, across, ice, eats, mouse, footsteps, nights
• R Sound – red, rays, rest, rain, round, roots, carries, across, burn, desert, dry, bird, earth, hungry, burst, hurry, warm, flower, air, far, smaller, higher, never, over, water, winter, weather, neighbor, faster, summer, taller
• R-Blends – grow, drowns, drifts, ground, trip, breaks, grew, three, friend, trees, drop, bright
• S-Blends – strong, smaller, stops, small, sleep, snow, still, spring, start, stems
• L-Blends – blowing, flower, flies, fly, blanket, plants, play
• Story Retell/Sequencing – This story is perfect for story retelling and sequencing of the full life cycle of a little seed.
• Vocabulary – This story has a lot of spring/weather vocabulary (spring, summer, winter, drift, settle, sway, sail, and bud).
• Answering WH-Questions – This book is perfect for wh-questions. For example, after reading the story together you could ask, “What color was the seed?”, “What carried the seed away?”, “What made the seed grow?”, “What happens to the seed in the winter?
• Describing – Have the student describe the flower throughout the story. For example, when the flower is a seed you could then have your student or child describe the seed, “The seed is brown” or “The seed is tiny”. Then later on as the seed becomes a flower they could describe the flower.
• Cause & Effect – This story is also perfect to review cause and effect. You could ask questions, such as, “What causes the seeds to scatter?”, “What effect does water have on the seed?”

Here are some additional ideas to expand on the book activity.

• Sequencing – A fun expansion activity would be to plant your own seeds and watch them grow. You could have your student sequence out the steps of how to plant a seed and make it grow.
• Compare & Contrast – You could get a few packets of seeds from the store and then have your students compare and contrast the differences between the different types of seeds (tiny, round, bumpy, or smooth). 

SEE ALSO: 179+ Free Speech Therapy Wh Questions Printable

16. the gingerbread man – interactive books for speech therapy.

The Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt is a great winter themed story to add to your lesson plans. This version starts out with a little old lady and a man who bakes a gingerbread man for a little boy. They tell the boy to not open the oven until the gingerbread man is done cooking, but the little boy can’t help himself and he takes a peek causing the gingerbread man to pop out of the oven, and then the chase begins.

• M Sound – man, mouth, woman, time, him, come
• N Sound – now, once, gingerbread, opened, upon, man, woman, one, pan, oven, garden, kitchen, down, run, soon
• S-Blends – smell, steps, stopped, snip, snap
• R Sound – run, ran, rest, rakes, road, gingerbread, garden, farmer, faster, bear, closer, door
• L Sound – little, looks, old, wolf, called, smell, call
• Vocabulary – This story has some great vocabulary, such as wavy, glue, more, round, cut, pretty, bow, sticky, and circle and it also has some great tier 2 vocabulary words, such as gobble, chase, and stream.
• Story Retell/Sequencing – After reading the whole story have your child or student retell and sequence the events of what happened in the story.
• Answering WH-Questions – This book is perfect for wh-questions. For example, after reading the story together you could ask, “Who chased after the gingerbread man?”, “Why did the old woman, old man, and little boy take a break from chasing the gingerbread man?”, or “Who let the gingerbread man out of the oven?”
• Antonyms – After reading the story you could work on the following antonyms (fast/slow, wet/dry, hungry/full, stop/go, and shallow/deep).
• Categorization – If you have some play food you could have the child practice separating out the play desserts versus fruits and vegetables into different categories. 
• Compare & Contrast – You could read another Gingerbread Man story, such as the Gingerbread Baby, and then have your students compare and contrast the differences between the two versions of the same great story. 

Interactive Books for Speech Therapy

Here are some resources to help you get started using your interactive books for speech therapy today!

Here are some teachers pay teachers free boom cards that are great supplemental resources for the books above. 

• Going on a Bear Hunt Book Companion Boom Card Deck, Reading Comprehension by Kelsey’s Speech Table – This set of boom cards is perfect for your students working on answering story comprehension wh questions. 
• Educator Resources for The Mitten Book Companion Unit – Boom Cards by Target Every Goal Speech Therapy – Use this resource to work on your child’s story comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, syntax, story retelling, and describing skills.

Book Attachment

If you want additional resources that you can attach right into the books themselves or want velcro pictures be sure to check out the following freebies.

• Little Blue Truck Freebie by BunnyHoney – Grab these clipart images to help your students with story retelling or simply to use as you read the story together.
• Little Blue Truck Communication Board by The Styled Speechie – Here is a helpful communication board full of all the animals from the story the Little Blue Truck.
• The Mitten by ThinkSpeechandLangauge Kim – Here is a set of images that can be used for labeling, identifying, following directions, sequencing, or story retelling.
• Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything Sequencing by Jessica Elaine – Use these images to help sequence the story.
• Bear Hunt Story Retell Prompt Visual by The Speech Cupboard – Grab these images to help your child or student retell or sequence this super fun story.

Want Even More Lesson Plans for Speech Therapy?

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5 Best Books for Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is a form of treatment done to address communication problems.

Also referred to as speech-language therapy, it involves practices that aim to treat speaking or reading challenges.

Besides speech challenges, it also focuses on language knowledge, language use, and social communication issues.

Writing and spelling challenges, particularly dyslexia, might also improve with the help of speech therapy .

To help your child in his journey, here are five of the best books for speech therapy you can use.

1. A Boy and a Jaguar by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz

2. the mouth with a mind of its own by patricia mervine, 3. from head to toe by eric carle, 4. sammy goes to speech by marissa siegel, 5. owl moon by jane yolen, comparison chart.

A Boy and a Jaguar

The Mouth With a Mind of Its Own

From Head to Toe Board Book

Sammy Goes to Speech

Best Books for Speech Therapy Reviews

Authored by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, the book tells a simple narrative of a life-long bond between a youngster who felt “broken” and how animals influenced his life’s work.

Time Magazine tagged the book’s main character as the “Indiana Jones of wildlife preservation.”

Inspired by real-life events, join Alan as he embarks on a journey to fulfill a promise to be the voice of animals and people who cannot do so.

As one of the helpful books for speech therapy, there are notable qualities that made it a favorite by many instructors, parents, and children.

• Based on Personal Accounts

The author had speech issues growing up, particularly stuttering, which he was able to overcome.

Since it covers his life, including college and job references, A Boy and a Jaguar perhaps provides more impact for older book readers.

As such, it could be a guide or inspiration for those who have doubts about their life trajectory due to speech problems.

• Award-Winning Book

A Boy and a Jaguar , drawn by Catia Chien, has earned an award for the creative representation of handicapped experience in 2015.

It won the Schneider Family Book Award, given by the American Library Association .

Its subjects are not limited to stutterers, though, which makes this book more compelling.

• Wildlife Advocacy

Dr. Rabinowitz is the founder of Panthera, a big cat conservation group.

After reading the narrative at length, the story can influence its readers to protect animals that have been threatened due to various factors.

By sharing his childhood experience, he aims for readers to understand the significance of wildlife preservation.

• Relatability

A Boy and a Jaguar depicts a loud and clear message of being a voice for the animals.

Readers can relate to Alan and the animals for not having a “voice.”

The narrative assumes that animals have no human voices and, therefore, people don’t listen to their suffering and anxiety.

Through this story, the reader can empathize with the characters, who also struggle with not being understood.

• Inexpensive
• Great illustrations
• Uplifting story
• Not Kindle-friendly

Written by Patricia Mervine, the story of The Mouth With a Mind of Its Own revolves around a boy named Matthew.

As the title implies, the main character has an issue where his brain is not in sync with his mouth.

Because of this, he cannot mingle with other children or even say his own name.

The story is inspired by the author’s experience working with students like Matthew as a speech-language pathologist.

The Mouth With a Mind of Its Own illuminates the struggles toddlers with speech problems have to endure regularly during their formative years.

Let’s explore the features that made the book a must-have for speech therapy.

• Realistic Story

While other books focus on poking the children’s interest using fictional elements, this book does the opposite.

It narrates the difficulties of a “real” character in a familiar setting, so the readers can directly relate their experiences to the story.

Because they are able to relate to Matthew’s experiences, the book could positively impact their development.

• Candid and Informative

Despite the regular life premise of The Mouth With a Mind of Its Own , it still has a nice mix of humor and learning.

More often than not, it’s hard to keep the children engaged in a story with nothing but exposition.

Adults also have this sort of issue when there’s not too much to stimulate their senses.

Having a bit of humor in storytelling could diminish this circumstance and might result in better discussion and engagement.

• Emphasis on Speech Therapist

One of the distinctive aspects of the story is explaining to the readers how a speech therapist can help improve their communication skills.

After finishing the story of The Mouth With a Mind of Its Own , children can be more welcoming and receptive to their respective speech therapists.

• Applicable for homeschooling
• Feel-good story
• Vivid and colorful illustrations
• Some words could be a tad abstract for kids
• Might be too wordy

From Head to Toe describes the different movements of animals in detail.

Also, Eric Carle encourages young readers to mimic the various actions made by the creatures in the book, which adds fun to learning.

In turn, children will discover and give importance to the value of listening, exercise, and a new challenge via vivid illustrations and easy-to-follow instructions.

Compared to other speech therapy books, From Head to Toe offers a different approach to stimulate the interest and attention of its readers.

Let’s see the notable aspects of this colorful and energetic children’s book.

• Interactive Learning

It is fascinating to be able to witness a giraffe bending its neck or a monkey turning down its arms.

However, letting the kids emulate these movements adds an element of fun, exercise, and engagement.

A kid is partnered with an animal on every two-page spread.

Then, the assigned are urged to move in the same manner as the highlighted creature.

The exuberant art could intrigue young toddlers, who might love the art and making their own motions .

• Repeating Phrases

From Head to Toe incorporates plenty of repeating phrases that are extremely helpful for those struggling to communicate.

Due to its speech therapy-friendly questions, it further improves the children’s receptiveness and confidence.

• Good Storyline

When it comes to the plot, From Head to Toe might not have a serious or real-world setting.

However, it has enough details to keep the children interested, which is beneficial to ensure they are learning continuously.

• Quality Illustration

With an art style that many readers can relate to, the book makes itself more accessible than others.

The child art-like theme of the illustrations could also motivate the kids to attempt drawing the characters in the book.

While it is not directly related to speech therapy, getting interested in art will ultimately contribute to their learning and development as young students.

Because of the bright text and illustration, older relatives such as grandparents will find the book easy to read with kids.

What’s more, it’s not a challenge to read the contents with a bedside lamp, so it can easily become a favorite bedtime book.

• Caters to many different types of children
• Durable cover
• Available in multiple languages
• Pricier than others
• Back cover art may not be available inside

Tailored for children who are either just starting speaking or in speech therapy, Sammy Goes to Speech is a resourceful and educational book.

It was written by Marissa Siegel, a speech-language pathologist.

The book tells a unique story about a girl who struggles with communication.

The premise is Sammy, the main character, desperately wants to talk but can’t find his voice.

Sammy and his mother then look for his voice all over but have trouble finding it.

Sammy Goes to Speech is labeled as one of the great resources for families with little ones dealing with speech issues.

Let’s check out why the book has earned praise from its readers.

• Written by a Pro

As a licensed speech-language pathologist, Marissa Siegel has enough credentials and experience to produce a quality book.

Regarding the overall reception of Sammy Goes to Speech , it’s evident that there’s a consensus about its effectiveness as a speech therapy book.

According to Siegel, she was motivated by her own experience as an SLP to create this book.

Her sensitivity grew enormously after working with numerous families with small children dealing with speech issues.

She also realized that only a few accessible options are available for families that join the realm of speech therapy.

These factors inspired her to write Sammy Goes to Speech .

• Clear, Concise Illustration

While the artwork is not as dynamic as other speech therapy books, it more than makes up for it with simplicity and clarity.

In regards to enhancing the speech level of children, the illustration doesn’t need to be significantly impressive.

• Accessible Storyline

The narrative of the book is mainly for children who are learning how to communicate appropriately.

However, the engaging, practical storyline is also applicable even for those who don’t need an SLP.

Values such as perseverance and creativity apply to all children, which will contribute to their mental development.

• Relatable Main Character

Many kids will find Sammy a relatable character mainly because he also goes to speech class and has a friendly speech-language pathologist.

His stuffed toy, Mr. Monster, adds an element of fun to the entire book, which draws the reader more to the story.

• Bonus Content

After the story concludes, you’ll see additional sections labeled as “Tips” and “Activities.”

These sections provide parents with practical and accessible ideas that could help their kids improve.

As you can imagine, these parts make the book more equipped for speech therapy than others.

In addition to the engaging story, you can also use the tips and activities that the author has carefully written.

•  Philanthropy

While it is not necessarily a content attribute of the book, it’s great to know that a portion of its sales is put to meaningful research.

A part of the proceeds is dedicated to funding research on childhood communication disorders.

• Easy to understand
• Age range not wide

The Owl Moon is about a small child and her father looking forward to encountering the perfect owl.

The small girl has been waiting years to take part in the family ritual.

While their goal is about finishing an objective, the storyline revolves around the concept of love of nature and simplicity.

The book is for kids of all ages and is written by Jane Yolen.

The Owl Moon is revered by many as one of the best books for speech therapy because of its notable qualities.

Let’s learn about the features of this classic children’s book.

• Applicable to Children of Different Ages

The Owl Moon tells a family-oriented story, so it’s a great book for children of all ages, from older preschoolers to school-age students.

Because of the theme and virtues presented, it is also relatable to those reading it.

• High-Quality Illustration

The Owl Moon is rich in shadow and moonlight art details, which displays the people in the story from different perspectives.

Interesting angles of other forest animals are also prominently illustrated.

The picture compliments that narrative in this exceptional book.

Schoenherr, the illustrator, used nightly soft and misty blacks and browns, contrasting them with the piercing white snow.

Due to its art, the Owl Moon won a Caldecott Medal in 1988.

• Dynamic Storytelling

While the cover art may imply a fantasy story, the Own Moon has a realistic narrative that many will find relatable and applicable to daily life.

The poetic language contributes to its wholesome appeal, while the imagery enhances the quality of the storytelling.

Considering these attributes, it wouldn’t be strange that many view the Owl Moon as a classic and must-have children’s book.

• Excellent gift
• Good story to share during Christmas or winter
• Inspiring for young kids
• Impressive print quality
• Some proses might be a bit long
• Underwhelming SLP elements

Out of these five outstanding books, we think Sammy Goes to Speech stands out.

Taking into account its readability, add-ons, illustration, and overall quality, it would be hard not to see how this book will help children.

On the other hand, if you are looking for something more interactive, you should check out From Head to Toe .

Discover some of the best children’s books for supporting speech and language development

Learn how to find the perfect picture books for the goals you want to target, visit the blog for interesting articles and handy book lists.

• Featured Books

The Sound We See

by Rhian Hoccom, Lisa Farquhar & Hélène Somerville

for ages 0 to 7

Ribbit Rabbit Robot

by Victoria Mackinlay

for ages 4 to 8

All The Ways to be Smart

by Davina Bell

Freddie and the Fairy

by Julia Donaldson

for ages 3 to 7

We Wear Pants

by Katie Abey

for ages 3 to 6

Hugless Douglas

by David Melling

for ages 0 to 5

20+ Best Books for Speech and Language

Books are one of the best resources for encouraging speech, language, and communication development. The following are some of our favorite books to use in therapy and at home.

Books are the best, plain and simple. We love using books in intervention and promoting the use of them outside of therapy. Individuals of all ages and abilities can improve their speech, language, and communication skills with books. Check out some of our past posts for a more comprehensive overview of reading and literacy - and keep reading for a quick list of some of our favorites!

Pop-up/lift-the-flap books:.

- Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill

- Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

- Zoom Zoom Baby by Karen Katz

Tactile books:

- Bright Baby Touch and Feel ( Words, Colors, Numbers, Shapes ) by Roger Pridy

- Feely Bugs by David A. Carter

- Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt

Sound (animated) books:

- Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? By Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

- Simple First Words: Let’s Talk by Roger Priddy

Wordless picture books:

- Good Dog Carl by Alexandra Day

- A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog by Mercer Mayer

- The Red Book by Barbara Lehman

Rhyming books:

- Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdeny

- How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? By Jane Yolen & Mark Teague

- Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Alphabet books:

- ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book by Dr. Seuss

- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault

- Curious George Learns the Alphabet by H.A. Rey

Other favorites:

- The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

- All About Core: An Alphabet Book for Emerging Readers by Rebecca Eisenberg

- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

What are some of your favorite books? Let us know!

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20+ Fun and Engaging Interactive Books For Speech Therapy

As speech-language pathologists and educators, we are always looking for the best way to help our students. One of my favorite ways is to use interactive books for speech therapy. So, if you Are you on the lookout for the perfect book to boost language skills in young children, look no further! I’ve gathered a ton of interactive books that will not only engage your students but also provide valuable practice opportunities. With some timeless classics, modern marvels, and even interactive books that cover specific skills, these books are a must-have for any speech therapist’s toolkit.

Dive into the World of Interactive Books of Speech Therapy

These Interactive books for speech therapy are a great way to make language concepts come alive. They encourage active participation and provide consistent visuals, making them a go-to resource for speech therapy sessions. 

Rhyming Dust Bunnies  

By jan thomas.

This is perfect for students who may need help with rhyming or questions and answers. The book allows students to think, process, and answer the question before moving on to the next page. All of this makes it a great addition to any classroom, especially the speech classroom. She has many other great books as well.

Tap the Magic Tree

By christie matheson.

This fun interactive component invites children to tap, rub, and shake the book to make things happen. It’s a fantastic choice for targeting language concepts and prediction skills. She has many other books that are great for speech sessions as well!

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear

By claudia rueda.

A classic book that has been around for many years, it is always a hit with younger learners. So, if you are a speech therapist with toddlers or young learners, this may be the perfect choice! It’s an excellent tool for working on wh-questions and spatial concepts.

Don’t Push the Button!

By bill cotter.

This delightful book encourages active participation, as readers are urged not to press a mysterious button. It’s a fantastic way to practice different actions and language concepts.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

By michael rosen and helen oxenbury.

 This classic book takes readers on an adventure filled with repetitive text and multisyllabic words. Read along with a family who is going on a bear hunt, and the pictures, words, and more make it a great choice for the speech classroom.

Good Night, Gorilla

By peggy rathmann.

Wordless books are a fantastic tool for encouraging creativity and language development. This wordless book follows a mischievous gorilla as he lets different animals out of their cages. It’s a great way to practice past tense verbs and auditory bombardment.

Bringing Books to Life in the Digital World: Online Interactive Books For Speech Therapy

In an era of distance learning, Chromebooks, iPads, and more interactive books in digital format are a game-changer.

Boom Cards for Language Development

This digital product offers various interactive books covering different categories, from animal vocabulary to body parts. They’re a versatile resource for speech therapists. Boom Cards are a great way to get students engaged if they seem a little off or just not wanting to do anything (which totally happens). 

Printable Interactive Books For Speech Therapy

These interactive books for speech therapy are more than just pages to flip through – they’re a way to engage, in hands-on language development. Packed with colorful visuals, moveable pieces, and clever activities, these books are the perfect companions for speech therapists and educators seeking to make language learning an interactive, memorable experience.

Associations Interactive Book

This interactive book for speech therapy and matching picture card activity will help your students improve word association skills. It contains real-life pictures that will help build receptive and expressive language skills in speech therapy or special education. It’s great for independent work in self-contained, autism, general education classrooms, or small group speech therapy sessions. Students can complete each page independently or with assistance.

Can You Name The Pets? Interactive Book

Looking for a labeling activity for pets? This is a cute interactive book that introduces different types of pets. Some examples of pets include dog, cat, fish, snake, etc. Students can match the pictured items when they are named. Instructions for book assembly are included. Visual cues and dots are included for pacing when reading a response.

Can You Name The Emotions? Interactive Book

 Interactive books for speech therapy is a perfect tool for students who need to work on receptive and expressive language skills. The book includes 8 pages with text and pictures, a corresponding question for each page, and picture choices to match.

Fall Vocabulary Interactive Book

This adaptive book and picture mat activity will help your students improve their vocabulary skills for the fall season . It contains real-life pictures to help build receptive and expressive language skills in speech therapy or special education. Use the picture mat to work on additional skills, such as identifying, wh questions, riddles, etc.

Hygiene Interactive Book

How to Wash Your Hands is an interactive book that briefly explains germs and outlines the steps of washing your hands. It includes 14 pages. The pictures are colorful and bright. Students can match the pictures after each step. Instructions for book assembly are included. This book is a great addition to lesson plans related to hygiene as well.

Community Helpers Interactive Book

Do you have students on your caseload who struggle with answering hypothetical or problem-solving questions ? This adaptive book focuses on community helpers. It gives scenarios to problems in regard to who one should see for a specific problem in a community.

Social Skills Interactive Book

Kindness should be encouraged at an early age. It is also an important trait to have in the classroom. This interactive book for speech therapy is a great way to help understand what this trait means. It contains a variety of examples of acts of kindness. It is great for independent work in self-contained, autism, general education classrooms, or small group speech therapy sessions.

Action Verbs Interactive Book #1

I Can Name Actions is a perfect way to learn actions using an interactive book. Students can match the pictured items when they are named. The following 12 actions introduced are the following: singing, digging, running, dancing, writing, drinking, eating, painting, reading, speaking, waving & building . Instructions for book assembly are included.

Action Verbs Interactive Book #2

I Can Name Actions Book Two is a perfect way to learn actions using an interactive book. Students can match the pictured items when they are named. In Book Two the following 12 new actions are introduced: coughing, calling, coloring, laughing, paying, cooking, studying, swinging, skipping, listening, swimming & sneezing. Instructions for book assembly are included.

Halloween Interactive Book

This interactive book is a perfect tool for students to practice answering various who, what, where, and where questions . The book includes 8 pages with text and pictures, a corresponding question for each page, and picture choices for answering each question.

Find other Halloween activities here .

Object Function Interactive Book #1

This is the first interactive, adaptive book series for Object Function for Speech Therapy. Improve vocabulary and comprehension by having students choose the function of the object from the picture choices provided.

Object Function Interactive Book #2  

This is the second interactive, adaptive book series for Object Function for Speech Therapy. Improve vocabulary and comprehension by having students choose the function of the object from the picture choices provided.

Object Function Interactive Book #3

This is the 3rd interactive, adaptive book series for Object Function for Speech Therapy. Improve vocabulary and comprehension by having students choose the function of the object from the picture choices provided.

If you’re looking to get a bunch of interactive books for speech therapy these object-function interactive books are perfect. Plus you can grab the bundle here .

WH Questions Interactive Book Bundle

This interactive books for speech therapy  BUNDLE i ncludes a total of 5 WH-Questions interactive books with who, what, where, when, and why questions. These interactive books target vocabulary, sentence expansion, and matching skills.

Farm Themed Interactive Book

This interactive book is a great addition to any farm animal theme. It focuses on items you find on a farm, such as hay, cow, farmer, horse, etc. The students will match pictures as they label each item. Visual cues and dots are included for pacing when reading a response.

Halloween Spatial Concepts Interactive Book

This positional word interactive book allows students to match pictures to each page of the book using Velcro. It includes the following positions: behind, in, on, under, between, next to, above, and in front of, with a Halloween theme.

Hypothetical Questions  Interactive Book

These interactive problem solving scenarios for speech therapy will help students use critical thinking skills to problem solve hypothetical situations. Real pictures are used as answer choices on each page to make it more realistic for students.

Teach preschool or little learners? These i nteractive books for speech therapy are a great addition to center time, small group, or speech therapy sessions. Grab a bundle of helpful interactive books HERE . 

Elevate Your Speech Therapy Sessions with Interactive Books

Interactive books offer a fun and effective way to target a wide range of language concepts and skills. Whether in print or digital format, they provide endless opportunities for active participation and engagement. So, dive into the world of interactive books and watch your students’ language skills blossom!

Happy reading and happy speech therapy!

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10 Fabulous Books for Speech Therapy

• July 8, 2017

10 Fabulous Books for SLPs

1) Story Path – This book is amazing for working on expressive language skills.  Students choose their own “path” via pictures throughout the story to create a story of their own.  Helpful prompts and questions are included on the bottom of each page.  See a video of it in action, here .

2) Muddle & Match: Fairy Tales – This book is excellent for working on articulation. It repeats the different words with same sound over and over again, which is great for auditory bombardment or for providing students with multiple opportunities to produce the same sound in words or sentences.  See a video of it in action, here .

4) Who’s Next? – This is a book that is very interactive- especially great for preschoolers or little ones working on animal vocabulary.  As you go through each page, you have to guess who will join in next (there are little clues, such as animal tails) and who left the group (who’s missing?).  It is SO fun!  See it in action, here .

9) You Choose – This is a great one for working on language expansion.  Each page has a question at the top and lots of pictures below to help expand on the your answer to the question.  Watch it in action, here .

10) A Tale of Two Beasts – This book is great if you’re working on perspective taking.  The book has two different parts, but the first part is from the perspective of the little girl and the second part is from the perspective of the squirrel.  See it in action, here .

Bonus: Shine-A-Light Books – These books are SO fun and children get so excited about them, I couldn’t pick just one.  You shine a light behind the page and it lights up a picture that wasn’t previously visible.  She them in action, here .  Te collection is linked here because I couldn’t choose just one, but they can also be purchased individually!

Do you have some go-to books for speech therapy?  I’d love to hear about your favorites!

*I am an Usborne consultant.  All opinions listed here are my own.  I truly love these books and use them with my own children.  The commission made on these books helps me to fund the website, podcast, and email service to keep this site running without any cost to you.  Thank you for your support!

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Over 1200 SLPs Voted: The Best Speech Therapy Books By Goal Area

Thousands of SLPs weighed in to share their favorite speech therapy books and how and why they have come to rely on them to move children through their goals.

The Research is Clear as to Why Storybooks are So Powerful at Improving Communication Skills:

• Using speech therapy books provides an excellent way to keep students engaged while addressing their speech and language goals.
• Storybooks can be used with all ages and cultures.
• They can be used to address a wide range of goals, including articulation, semantics, syntax, comprehension, pragmatics, and discourse skills.
• Clinicians can work at different levels depending on the student’s needs.
• Students can generalize skills learned in storybook reading to other settings.
• Parents can easily become a part of the treatment process at home, which can greatly increase learning and retention of new skills.
• We can select books that are meaningful to and representative of each student.

But how do we quickly find the best speech therapy books that we can use with our children?

That’s where our community of thousands of SLPs come in. Yes, there are tons of great speech therapy books to choose from. But here are the primary books that professionals say are their “go to” or “favorite” books because of how powerfully they address a goal for different disorder classes or how engaging they are for different ages. We have organized them here based on goal type.

Go Diego Go! To the Rescue!/ ¡Al Rescate!

Plot: A bilingual (Spanish/English) board book with interactive, and voice output buttons.

Why we like it: It’s a great book for eliciting action words.

From Head to Toe

Plot: Animals provide examples of ways they can move and encourage children to imitate the movements.

Why we like it: This book is great for working on action words and labeling animals. This book can be interactive and there are many opportunities that allow for imitation of actions and gestures.

Spanish: De la cabeza a los pies

Knuffle Bunny

Plot: On an errand to the laundromat, Trixie loses her beloved stuffed bunny, and he gets into mischief left alone overnight.

Why we like it: Students identify with Trixie’s struggle to express herself. They can describe the different actions the bunny does. Good practice with /b/ in English. Good practice with /k/ in Spanish.

Spanish: El conejito Knuffle

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Plot: When a mouse invites himself into the house and is given a cookie, a number of entertaining consequences ensue.

Why we like it: This book uses action words to describe the events of the mouse’s day. It’s a good way to introduce the concept of cause and effect and can be used for sequencing and predicting.

Spanish: Si le das una galletita a un ratón

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Plot: A pig is given a pancake leading to a chain of comical consequences.

Why we like it: Another great book for teaching action words, cause and effect, predictions, and sequencing in a humorous light.

Spanish: Si le das un panqueque a una cerdita

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Plot: A surprise guest invites himself in and takes advantage of a boy’s hospitality in an entertaining way.

Why we like it: Many action words are included in this book. It’s also great for sequencing and making predictions, working on sentence building, and vocabulary.

Spanish: Si le das un panecillo a un alce

Snowmen at Night

Plot: Follow a town full of snowmen as they have a great time while we are asleep!

Why we like it:  It is a hysterical adventure of activities that children can relate to (dancing, sledding, games) told with great pictures and very few words

Froggy Gets Dressed

Plot: A frog goes to play in the snow, only to be reminded by his mother that he needs to put on more clothes each time he attempts to leave the house.

Why we like it: Funny story targeting action words, clothing, seasons, winter vocabulary, repeated sentence structure, and /r/.

Spanish: Froggy se viste

The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything

Plot: The story of a lady who never gets scared, until one night she is followed by haunted clothes that form a scarecrow.

Why we like it: Many action words are included in the text. Repetitive “chorus.” Great for /s/ and /r/ clusters in Spanish, plurals in both Spanish and English, and naming clothing.

Spanish: La viejecita que no le tenía miedo a nada

Speech Therapy Books for Describing

The following are great books to use in speech therapy for describing because they have rich imagery. Describing is an important skill to address in speech therapy because it supports a child’s ability to make connections and associations around the object they are describing. When working on describing, children can think about object categories, attributes, function, and location. This ultimately supports vocabulary development and word retrieval because lexical connections to that word/object have been created. Describing is also a great way to facilitate increased utterance length.

The Snowy Day

Plot: This is a young boy’s experience on a snowy day.  Peter explores and enjoys the snow in many different ways.

Why we like it: Targets adjectives “slow” and “fast,” sequencing story events, /s/ blends

Spanish:   Un día de nieve

Plot: A person requests help from the Zoo to find the perfect pet

Why we like it: A fun lift the flap story with a surprise ending. Children enjoy making predictions about what the perfect pet will be. Good for descriptions and labeling animals.

Spanish: Querido zoo

The Way I Feel

Plot: Children are able to recognize their emotions with colorful illustrations and examples in this book. They learn how to label these emotions and understand why someone might be feeling a certain way.

Why we like it: Books like this are great for speech therapy books for describing emotions and can be used for pragmatic language goals as well.

Spanish: Así me siento yo

Where Are You From?

Plot: A little girl gets asked where she is from by peers and adults. She starts to have questions about her own identity. Her grandfather helps her to find an answer.

Why we like it: This book provides some insight on a question that many of our students may have been asked at one point or another. It opens up conversations related to identity and multiculturalism, especially with older students.

Spanish: ¿De dónde eres?

A Chair for My Mother

Plot: A family must work together with their community to rebuild their home after a fire.

Why we like it: Plot, culture, great opportunities for visualizing and describing.

Spanish: Un sillón para mi mama

The Mixed-Up Chameleon

Plot: When a chameleon realizes it can change, it adds body parts and colors from many animals at once.

Why we like it: This is one of the greatest speech therapy books for 3-5-year-olds to work on body parts, colors, shapes, and comparing and contrasting. Not available in Spanish, but is easily translated.

Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears

Plot: A mosquito tells a lie to an iguana and sets off a series of events. It is a ‘fable-like’ story.

Why we like it: It teaches the value of telling the truth, and is great for visualizing, describing, and sequencing. Can learn different animals, cause and effect, and it has beautiful illustrations.

Spanish: Por qué zumban los mosquitos en los oídos de la gente

Where the Wild Things Are

Plot: A boy imagines himself traveling to a faraway place, makes unlikely friends, and learns to appreciate what he has at home when he returns.

Why we like it: Great for working on /r/ blends, describing, and past tense sentence structures. Can be used with many ages.

Spanish: Dónde viven los monstrous

Speech Therapy Books for Following Directions

Following directions is an important receptive language skill. There is more than one way to use books in speech therapy to target following directions. Some books support this receptive language goal by explicitly giving directions and asking the reader to perform an action. Others have images that are easy to target with the instruction “Point to the __.” Either way, they support a child’s ability to process and retain auditory information by pairing an image with the directions. Practicing following instructions that were introduced in the reading as a follow-up activity without looking at the illustrations in the book provides an added challenge by decreasing visual cues.

Ten Black Dots

Plot: Simple illustrations with different configurations of dots that teach counting.

Why we like it: Teaches counting skills in a fun and imaginative way; invites fun arts and crafts follow-up activities to create different items/animals with black dots for language targets.

Spanish: Diez puntos negros

Plot: This book takes the reader through an interactive experience. Each page gives the reader a different instruction, which causes a dot to change, multiply, and grow. This book is highly engaging and encourages the reader to follow instructions to see what will happen next.

Why we like it: Great book for engaging the reader. This book helps with goals related to following instructions, cause and effect, and descriptions.

Spanish: Presiona aquí

Plot: This book is based on the game Simon Says. The reader is asked to perform several actions throughout the book, but only when “Elmo says.”

Why we like it: This is one of the rare speech therapy books that is appropriate for all young children, including toddlers. There are several opportunities to practice following instructions and there are visual cues to help.

Speech Therapy Books for Naming

These are some of the best speech therapy books for toddlers because their clear, simple illustrations and text are perfect for naming. Young children are able to practice naming the items on the page without relying on the ability to read. The books below include opportunities to name items in several different categories such as days of the week, animals, body parts, colors, and foods. Naming items in related semantic categories helps with vocabulary development. Naming is an important skill because it helps create connections needed for word-finding, and requires retrieval of phonological and semantic information.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Plot: The narrator asks different animals what they see. The response includes another animal of a different color.

Why we like it: This book is familiar to many students. It is good for labeling animals and colors. It also has predictable and repetitive text that allows students to participate in the reading. This book is great for younger students.

Spanish: Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿qué ves ahí?

Ten, Nine, Eight

Plot: A girl and her father count down to bedtime, teaching counting skills.

Why we like it: This is a simple bedtime story that teaches counting and labeling in the context of the nursery; invites interactions and opportunities to make tangible connections.

Spanish: Diez, Nueve, Ocho

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Plot: While turning the pages of this die-cut book, a big green monster grows then disappears.

Why we like it: On each page, a new body part is introduced and described. Good for /r/ and /s/ in English and Spanish. It is best used for ages 3-5 years.

Go Away, Big Green Monster

Spanish: ¡Fuera de aquí, horrible monstruo verde!

Today Is Monday

Plot: Animals march across each page, eating a different food each day of the week.

Why we like it: Introduces animals, foods and days of the week for preschool aged children with a chant like verse. Great for language and phonology.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Plot: A  caterpillar moves his way through the life cycle, eating everything in his path.

Why we like it: One of the best speech therapy books for teaching categories (food, colors), introducing the life cycle, comparing and contrasting, and presenting days of the week and numbers.

Spanish: La Oruga Muy Hambrienta

Plot: A boy’s grandmother makes his mittens. He goes for a walk and loses one in the snow. Various animals crawl into it, looking for a warm place to sleep.

Why we like it: Great for sequencing, naming animals, winter vocabulary, and discussing responsibility.

Spanish: El mitón

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Plot: An old lady swallows one animal after another to catch the preceding one.

Why we like it:  Good story for targeting animal vocabulary, colors, sequencing, and /s/ and /l/ clusters (English) and /r/ clusters (Spanish). Although written in English, this story is easily translated into Spanish.

Speech Therapy Books for Sequencing

Sequencing is an important skill for narrative language development. Sequencing gives a child a structure to learn how to tell stories and past events. Children learn to include the details of a story or event in the correct order to facilitate listener understanding when working on sequencing goals in speech therapy. Many sequencing stories include familiar themes such as days of the week or numbers, which helps when retelling events in the correct order. Sequencing also facilitates making predictions because a child is able to predict what happens next when the story follows a familiar sequence. The following books all have a clear beginning, middle, and end that make them well-suited to work on sequencing in speech therapy.

Plot: A girl airs out her wool clothes in the sun. Her stocking falls and the hedgehog ends up wearing it on his head. All the other animals come by and laugh at him.

Why we like it: Practicing /r, s, l/, descriptions, and learning new vocabulary (winter, animals).

Spanish: El gorro de lana

The Rooster Who Went to His Uncle’s Wedding

Plot: A Cuban folktale about a rooster who is trying to get clean on the way to his uncle’s wedding and encounters humorous setbacks.

Why we like it: Great for children aged 5-7, and can be used to teach animals, compare and contrast, teach ‘if’…’then’ and consequences of actions.

Spanish: El gallo que fue a la boda de su tío

Plot: When a little boy tries to rescue his kite from a tree, he throws item upon item trying to get it down, resulting in everything getting stuck!

Why we like it: Amusing story- kids will laugh out loud. Great for teaching predictions, sequencing, /r/ clusters, and teaching expectations.

Spanish: Atrapados

The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred

Plot: The story of how a maiden and farm animals work together to make the rice pudding for the fiesta.

Why we like it: Good for sequencing, teaching animal names/categories, and beautiful illustrations for describing. The story is told in English with Spanish words incorporated.

Ten Little Rubber Ducks

Plot: 10 rubber ducks are swept overboard off a cargo ship and travel to different parts of the world.

Why we like it:  This is a great speech therapy book for teaching counting, colors, sequencing, and part-whole relationships.

Spanish: Diez patitos de goma

The Napping House

Plot: A granny is dozing in her cozy bed when a sleepy child crawls on top and starts dreaming. One by one, animals pile up and join in the nap. Finally, a wakeful flea interrupts their slumber, which topples the pile of sleepers.

Why we like it: This book is great for labeling, describing, and sequencing. It also allows for a discussion about cause and effect.

Spanish: La casa adormecida

The Gingerbread Man

Plot: A couple makes a child out of gingerbread. He comes to life and escapes them.

Why we like it: Kids love chanting along to the rhythm of the story. Action words, sentence building, and Spanish /r/ and /r/ blends.

Spanish: El Hombre de Pan de Jengibre

The Grouchy Ladybug

Plot: The story of a ladybug who picks fights with animals much larger than herself.

Why we like it: Language targets include: concepts of time, increasing sizes, cycle of day to night, and also great for teaching cooperation and expected/unexpected behaviors.

Spanish: La Mariquita Malhumorada

The Rainbow Fish

Plot: A proud fish learns a lesson about valuing inner beauty and friendship.

Why we like it: Lovely illustrations, a fairly predictable story that is good for vocabulary building, semantic mapping, and teaching predictions and inferencing. Great story for working on social/pragmatic skills (friendship building/initiating play).

Spanish: El pez arcoiris

Speech Therapy Books for WH Questions

Repetition is important for little ones with language delays because we know that they need to hear a word or sentence many times for it to be understood and used correctly. Repetitive books for speech therapy also encourage participation as the child has multiple opportunities to respond to a question with a similar answer. The following books rely on repetition and are predictable, making them an excellent resource for addressing wh questions.

Are You My Mother?

Plot: A baby bird goes in search of his mother who has gone to look for something for him to eat.

Why we like it: With simple words and illustrations, this humorous book can be used to target vocabulary, interrogatives, and prediction making.

Spanish: ¿Eres mi mama?

Creepy Carrots

Plot: Jasper the Rabbit loves eating the carrots that grow in Crackenhooper Field. Every time he passes by he stops and grabs carrots, until one day the carrots start following him.

Why we like it: Lots of fun pictures and an interesting narrative. It encourages readers to make predictions and there are many opportunities for asking WH questions.

Spanish: Las zanahorias maléficas

I Went Walking

Plot: A little boy goes for a walk and greets a series of animals on the way.

Why we like it: It is one the classic speech therapy books that is great for practicing first-person statements, past tense, animals, and simple sentence structure.

Spanish: Salí de paseo

The Gigantic Turnip

Plot: A farmer and his wife find a giant turnip in their garden that requires cooperation from all the animals on the farm to unroot.

Why we like it: Great story for working on wh- questions, /r/ clusters (Spanish), seasons, and vegetable/planting vocabulary.

Spanish: El nabo gigante

Those Shoes

Plot: Jeremy wants a pair of those shoes, the ones everyone seems to be wearing. His grandma says they don’t have room for “wants”.

Why we love it: It teaches students about culture, friendship, and the ins and outs of life.

Spanish: Esos zapatos

The Very Busy Spider

Plot: A spider busy spinning her web cannot be persuaded by other farm animals to leave her work.

Why we like it: Lots of action words and can be used to practice labeling farm animals.

Spanish: La araña muy ocupada

Whose Mouse Are You?

Plot: A mouse is looking for his family and receives a delightful surprise at the end of the story.

Why we like it: The author’s use of rhyming in English and Spanish makes it great for targeting articulation and phonological skills for preschool-aged children.

Spanish: ¿De quien eres, ratoncito?

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

Plot: Another story in a similar format to Brown Bear, each animal introduces the consecutive animal and the sound it makes.

Why we like it: Similar to it’s predecessor, it is helpful for working on expanding vocabulary, action words and first person utterances.

Spanish: Oso polar, oso polar, ¿que es ese ruido?

Speech Therapy Books Targeting Articulation

The best speech therapy books to use for articulation have repeated phonemes and often include alliteration. These books provide children the opportunity to listen for and identify target sounds, which is an important skill when working on those sounds in speech therapy. Words that are chosen as therapy targets from books are meaningful practice for students because they will likely see these words again. The words are in a context that children are familiar with and using books may help with the generalization of articulation skills in the classroom.

Books provide opportunities for addressing different skill levels. For example, using books in speech therapy lets your move up and down a scale of difficulty between sounds at the word, sentence, paragraph, or conversation level. Using books to target articulation is also ideal because it ties speech therapy to the curriculum.

Speech Therapy Books for Articulation in English

Speech therapy books for s sounds.

Silly Sally

Plot: Silly Sally has a unique way of getting around. This story is a cumulative rhyme about her trip to town and all of the animals that she meets along the way.

Why we like it: This book can be used for targeting speech and language goals. Some possible language goals include naming animals and action words.

Sid and Sam

Plot: Two friends, Sid and Sam, sing in different ways together until Sam wants to stop and Sid keeps singing.

Why we like it: several opportunities to practice /s/ sounds with the use of alliteration in the text

Silly Tilly

Plot: Silly Tilly is a duck who likes to entertain the other farm animals with her silly actions. Although the other animals do not appreciate her antics at first, they realize that Silly Tilly makes the farm a happy place.

Why we like it: Children can enjoy reading about the silly things that Silly Tilly does

Speech Therapy Books for S Clusters

“Stand Back,” Said the Elephant, “I’m Going to Sneeze!”

Plot: The other animals are in distress when the elephant needs to sneeze. Last time, the elephant’s sneeze left the animals in disarray.

Why we like it: Appropriate for older children. This story provides examples of descriptive words and is also good for working on vocabulary.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Plot: This book expands on the familiar song about the itsy bitsy spider. Not only does the spider climb up the water spout, but it also climbs into the kitchen and through the house.

Why we like it: Children’s familiarity with the song allows them to participate in the reading.

Some Smug Slug

Plot: This story tells about a slug that climbs up a challenging slippery slope. Several different creatures in the garden try to stop him from climbing. But why?

Why we like it: Several opportunities to practice a variety of s-clusters. Also, there’s a surprise ending.

Stick and Stone

Plot: Stick and Stone are alone until Stick defends Stone from Pinecone and they become best friends.

Why we like it: Simple story that provides the opportunity to discuss friendship and kindness

Speech Therapy Books for L Sounds

Little Blue and Little Yellow

Plot: Little Blue and Little Yellow are best friends. One day, they hug each other and turn green. Upon returning home, they find that their families no longer recognize them.

Why we like it: This story explores concepts such as differences, tolerance, and friendship in a unique way.

Lola at the Library

Plot: Lola and her mother go to the library. Lola enjoys activities at the library and picking out her books. She especially enjoys reading the books when she gets home.

Why we like it: Discusses the routine of going to the library. Appropriate for younger children.

Lion Lessons

Plot: A boy wants to be a lion. He takes lessons and learns that being a lion is not as easy as he thought it would be. Then he learns the most important lesson, looking out for your friends.

Why we like it: The reader is tempted to try practicing their lion skills along with the book. This book is also great for action words.

Speech Therapy Books for L Clusters

Flip, Float, Fly

Plot: A nonfiction book that talks about how seeds move and eventually end up in the place they will grow.

Why we like it: One of few nonfiction books on the list. It is fun to compare different types of seeds in the book. This book allows for a variety of activities including bringing seeds into the lesson. In addition to multiple L- clusters, there are several action words also in this book.

The Little Airplane

Plot: Pilot Small has an adventure in his little airplane.

Why we like it: Simple plot that is great for young airplane lovers.

Speech Therapy Books for R Sounds

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry & the Big Hungry Bear

Plot: A little mouse picks a red ripe strawberry. The big hungry bear can smell the strawberry from a mile away and the little mouse needs to hide it quickly.

Why we like it: The text allows for R to be targeted in all word positions.

Ribbit Rabbit Robot

Plot: A rabbit, robot, and frog find a magic lamp. A genie appears and gives a warning, but the rabbit and robot do not heed the warning when making their wishes.

Why we like it: Lots of opportunities to practice initial R. With simple text, the pictures help tell the story and the book can be used for picture description tasks as well.

Speech Therapy Books for R Clusters

Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion

Plot: This book is a twist on the classic Little Red Riding Hood story. Little Red meets a hungry lion on the way to visit her Auntie Rosie. Little Red outsmarts the lion and causes him to change his ways.

Why we like it: Amusing storyline. There are lots of words including R and R-clusters in the texts. This book is great for targeting language goals as well.

Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Plot: This book is a retelling of the classic nursery rhyme. The story starts with five frogs on a log and counts down as each frog jumps into the pool.

Why we like it: Predictable and familiar text.

Speech Therapy Books for Articulation in Spanish

Spanish speech therapy books for s sounds.

El pez pucheros

Plot: A fish has a persistent frown. He meets several sea creatures that try to convince him to change his expression, but nothing works. One day he meets a special fish who shows him his lips are meant for something other than pouting.

Why we like it: There are several opportunities to practice /s/ in all word positions in this book. There is also an English version called The Pout-Pout Fish.

¿No Te Sientes Bien, Sam?

Plot: Sam the bear doesn’t feel well. His mother tries to give him medicine, but he does not like the way it tastes. His mother finds a way to make Sam feel better. They spend quiet time together watching the snow fall.

Why we like it: Simple plot that includes a topic that many children can relate to. Opportunities to practice /s/. There is an English version as well.

¿Quieres ser mi amigo?

Plot: Lola bunny and Simon dog are neighbors who never speak. They do not take the time to get to know one another until they both see a falling star.

Why we like it: Nice plot that lends itself to conversations about friendship and empathy. The English version is “On the Night of the Shooting Star.”

Spanish Speech Therapy Books for R Sounds

Evelyn del Rey se muda

Plot: An award-winning story about two best friends who spend every moment together, until one of them has to move away.

Why we like it: This book has several opportunities to practice R in Spanish. There is also an English version available.

Oso no para de roncar

Plot: A bear is asleep in his cave on a cold winter night. Different animals arrive to take shelter from a snow storm and start a party in the bear’s cave. The bear is upset when he wakes to find the other animals there.

Why we like it: This story has several opportunities to practice R in Spanish. It is also appropriate for targeting language goals such as labeling, describing, and sequencing.

¡Me rompí la trompa!

Plot: Elephant tells his friend Piggie the crazy story behind his broken trunk.

Why we like it: This is a short, funny story that all ages can enjoy. This book has opportunities to practice R clusters in Spanish

Speech Therapy Books That Target Fluency Disorders

Many times students with fluency disorders have not ever met another person who stutters. Being able to connect with another person who experiences some of the same challenges that they do is helpful in building a positive attitude about their own communication. Although SLPs may not have more than one student who stutters at a time on their caseload, they can present the perspective of another person who stutters through specific speech therapy books that have been written by people who stutter. These books allow students to connect with the author as another person who stutters and identify with some of the challenges the author describes.

Using books in fluency therapy provides opportunities to discuss self-perception as it allows for students to have conversations about their feelings about their own disfluencies. Fluency strategies can also be targeted during the reading or as part of a story retell.

Our 3 Favorite Fluency Disorder Speech Therapy Books

I Talk Like a River

Plot: A boy becomes discouraged when his stutter impacts his communication in school. His father encourages him by comparing his son’s speech to the river they both love.

Why we like it: This book promotes discussion about different types of stuttering and the variability of a stutter.

When Oliver Speaks

Plot: Oliver is a boy who stutters. When it is his turn to present a project in front of the class, he does his best to avoid it. With the help of his mother, Oliver learns to accept his stutter and is prepared to present to the class.

Why we like it: This book was written by a boy who stutters with the help of his mother. This book can lead to conversations about feelings related to a stutter and self-disclosure.

A Boy and A Jaguar

Plot: This book is a memoir written by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz about his experiences as a person who stutters. When Alan was young, his stutter was so severe that he had difficulty communicating. However, when speaking with animals, he was fluent. Alan dreamed of being able to use his voice to help animals.

Why we like it: This book is appropriate for older children as it raises issues related to wildlife conservation. Dr. Alan Rabinowiz was a renowned conservationist and a person who stuttered.

Speech Therapy Books Targeting Voice Disorders

Voice therapy can involve concepts such as resonance, pitch, and vocal hygiene that are unfamiliar to most children. Using books as part of voice therapy can help provide examples and imagery of these concepts. Books also introduce vocabulary related to vocal habits and voice in a way that children can understand with pictures that accompany the story.

Books help students understand the different ways voices can be used and help them recognize how they use their own voices. Students benefit from the examples provided in books that detail how voices can be adjusted and when they should be adjusted depending on the situation. A critical component of voice therapy is understanding complicated concepts that can be explained in a familiar context by incorporating books into treatment.

Our 2 Favorite Voice Disorder Speech Therapy Books

Plot: Decibella has earned her nickname because of her loud voice. Her teacher shows her that she can adjust the volume of her voice depending on the situation.

Why we like it: Good for discussing vocal volume as part of voice therapy. Children have the opportunity to practice each type of voice.

Voices Are Not for Yelling (ages 4-7)

Plot: This book discusses indoor and outdoor voices and when to use each.

Why we like it: This book can also be used to help with teaching children to use their words to resolve conflicts.

Spanish: La voz no es para gritar

Related links:   How to Read Books with Children with Language Delay   –  ASHA.org

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10 Terrific Storybooks for Speech Therapy and How To Use Them.

What are your favorite story books for speech therapy.

That’s what I asked nine talented SLP blogger friends and I’m excited to share their favorites with you and check them out for myself!

If you’ve stopped by Speech Sprouts before, you know I think literature-based therapy is terrific. The cat’s meow. Awesome. Outstanding. The bee’s knees. Fabulous. (Maybe I like synonyms and idioms a little bit too?)

Find some new favorite story books for speech therapy in this list

There are a few books here that are new to me too. I can’t wait to head to the library to check out these adorable children’s books.

Of course I’ll share one of my favorites too. I hope you find several perfect for your own speech therapy literacy-based sessions. So here goes:

1. The Pout-Pout Fish Goes To School by Deborah Diesen

Ashley from Sweet Southern Speech shares how she uses the Pout Pout Fish in speech therapy. She writes, “ The Pout-Pout Fish series of books offer an excellent opportunity to use imagery for vocabulary building. Just look at his face on the cover!” 

2.  Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One  by Kate Duke

6. Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

Colette from The Speech Meadow shares this favorite in her blog post on Bringing Children’s Lit Into Speech . She says Dear Zoo is not only great for teaching the names of different zoo animals, but it also uses describing words such as jumpy, fierce, grumpy and naughty which might be new to the children. Children love to act out the different descriptions!

7.  The Apple Pie Tree  by Zoee Hall

I hope you’ve discovered a couple new story book titles for your speech therapy room.

Now, where’s my library card  i’m going to need it.

• Read more about: Language , Storybooks

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Speech Therapy Book Ideas: Use the Classics

November 4, 2019

What kind of books do you use in your speech therapy sessions?  I am a book therapy kind of girl, so I’ve got lots of speech therapy book ideas for you. Picture books are SO versatile and can be used to target nearly all of my student’s speech and language goals.  Just give me a good book companion, some sweet manipulatives or puppets and I’m good to go!  

I’m also a fan of the classics and a complete sucker for all things Jane Austen and Anne of Green Gables.  So it’s no wonder that I love classic kids’ books for therapy too. The following is a list of some of my favorite speech therapy books.  Some of them I know you’ve heard of, and some of them might be new to you! I say take a look and try them out in your speech rooms to see if your students love them as much as mine do.  

*Amazon affiliate links included.  

1. Brown Bear Brown Bear (originally published 1967)

Did you realize how old this book was?  I’m sure it’s a staple in most classrooms so I had to include it at the top of my list.  My favorite things to target with it:

• Animals and colors vocabulary
• Asking and answering questions
• The repetition lends itself perfectly to responding with AAC device

2. Where’s Spot? (1980)

My favorite version of this is the lift the flap version.  My preschoolers adore it and I pull it out several times a year.  Here’s what I like to target:

• Yes/no questions
• Prepositions
• Animal vocabulary, household vocabulary
• Core words: look, open, where

3. Goodnight Moon (1947)

This one is a sweet little book, although it does make me a little sleepy every time I read it.  I love using this to target:

• Household vocabulary
• Complex sentences with the conjunction “and”
• Basic concepts

4. Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)

Harold draws everything he needs with a big purple crayon.  It’s really cute and great for using your imagination. Here’s what I like to target with this book:

• Functions of objects
• Cause/effect
• Where questions

5. Jump Frog Jump (1981)

This one is definitely one of my absolute favorites.  It’s repetitive, fun, and so cute for spring pond themes.  I even have a book companion for it in my TPT store. I love using this book to target:

• Pond animal vocab
• Action verbs
• Responding on AAC device or signs

6. Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever (1963)

This is the ultimate book for vocab book for your littles.  It’s jam packed precious pictures that my students and I both love.  The pages are a little “busy,” so it’s best for kids who have the joint attention to track where you are pointing.  Check out all the things you can target:

• SO MUCH VOCABULARY
• Action words
• Simple sequences
• WH questions (all of them)
• (pretty much any preschool language skill)

7. The Snowy Day (1962)

Great for winter, The Snowy Day is a cute little story about a boy playing all day in the snow.  This book is good for:

8. Harry the Dirty Dog (1956)

To me this one is full of classic 60s era visuals and humor.  It’s about a dog who hates taking a bath and winds up so dirty that his family doesn’t recognize him.  My kinders and firsties love it. I like to target:

• Story elements
• WH questions

9. Go Dog Go (1961)

This is a classic Dr. Suess-type book.  It’s pretty random but filled with different concepts, vocabulary, and sentence structures.  This one helps us work on:

• Expanding utterances
• Sentence building

10. Rosie’s Walk (1967)

Rosie’s Walk is perfect for your farm theme.  It’s about a hen walking all around the farm and doesn’t realize a fox is chasing her.  It’s great for targeting:

• Inferencing

These are my top 10!  If you love the classics too and book companions are your thing, check out these Mini Book Companions for Classics !  My first one in the series is for Where’s Spot !

It’s low prep and full of great activities for PreK-2 age students.  Be sure to check it out while it’s on sale!  

What’s your favorite classic picture book?  Comment below and let me know! Or send me a DM on Insta!  I’m happy to chat about all things books! 

If you’re looking for more ideas on working with younger students, head to this post .

November 7, 2019 at 8:42 pm

Love, Love , Love Books! One of my favorites is “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.” Great for s clusters, prepositions, sequencing, inferences. It’s the whole package! 🐻🥰

October 15, 2020 at 2:13 am

All of our classroom teachers use Jan Britt’s The Mitten. But a lot of people may not realize that there’s an older version (the same name) by Alvin Tresselt. Same story concept but a few different animals and a different ending. So I use it every year in January and I do compare and contract between the two versions with my Kindergarten students.

October 30, 2020 at 2:53 am

Wow! So good to know!

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10 Repetitive Picture Books to Use In Speech Therapy

01/31/2022 by Jenna 2 Comments

Do you need some ideas of repetitive picture books to use in speech therapy? Why are repetitive texts a good idea to use with students? Let’s discuss why they are important and some ideas of repetitive books you can use during therapy or at home.

PREDICTABILITY

Repetitive texts are valuable in so many different ways for children. For one, they are predictable . Students that are learning to read will have more confidence while listening and trying to follow along when words repeat themselves. Children actually enjoy predictability in their day because it gives them a sense of calm, even when reading! 

ELICITS EARLY LANGUAGE SKILLS

Next, repetitive books help elicit early language skills especially in early childhood stages. When stories are predictable, children will try to read along as well. Why? Because they have knowledge now of what the story “says” and it feels good for them to try to read along with you confidently. These books with predictable, repeated text also help students with decoding as well as fluency. 

HELPS ATTENTION SPAN

In addition, books that repeat themselves actually help capture a child’s attention during reading. When a child has less to think about, there are more cognitive opportunities for them to use and think about language. The predictable nature of these stories just requires less cognitive ability from them; essentially it decreases their cognitive load. When children have less to think about, then they can focus more on what’s happening during the story! Hence-this gives opportunity for growing their comprehension!

NEW VOCABULARY EXPOSURE

Finally, new vocabulary words are repeated MANY different times throughout the story. Also- books that are repetitive provide frequent practice for targeted speech sounds that a student may be working on. This is a HUGE win for speech therapists and clinicians and a big reason why I love using repetitive picture books. 

Let’s look at 10 repetitive picture books that are great:

#1 Brown Bear Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

Every child should be exposed to this story. It is absolutely a classic and probably my favorite predictive text! It helps young students with so many skills- predictability, colors, animal identification…the list goes on. Search on Pinterest for activities to go with this story and you will be overwhelmed at the opportunities for lessons!

#2 That’s Not My…

For these adorable repetitive stories by Usborne books and Fiona Wells, there are many different topics to choose from:

That’s not my llama.

That’s not my lion.

That’s not my unicorn.

THat’s not my plane.

That’s not my train.

(That is just a FEW.) These books are great because it’s simple to choose a topic to match what you’re learning about in therapy. Plus, there are only 6 sentences per story. This is a great book to target the sight words- That, not, my and even have students come up with their own ending!

#3 Sandra Boynton Books

Sandra Boynton is a queen of repetitive text. She has a multitude of titles when it comes to choosing predictive text. Some favorites are Blue Hat, Green Hat and Moo, Baa, la la la!

#4 Lisa Patricelli books

Like Sandra Boynton, author Lisa Patricelli has a flair for repetitive text. Her books are simple, to the point and easy for young children to follow along.

#5 Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

This is one of the most beloved books of all time. It is now part of my collection that I read with my toddler as well. The quiet poetry of the words and soothing illustrations makes Goodnight Moon the perfect book for the end of the day. “In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon… Goodnight moon. Goodnight mouse. Goodnight house…” This story is a true classic and one that every child should be exposed to. 

#6 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

Chicka Chicka boom boom….will there be enough room?! This is a classic story to use with younger students learning their alphabet letters. There are also tons of fun crafts and activities to use with this book. It is great for preschool and kindergarten age students.

#7 Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

In this sweet story, a child writes a letter to the zoo asking for a pet. On each page, a new animal appears from the zoo but each is unsuitable to be a pet. (Animals are also behind flaps which kids LOVE!) The last animal ends up being perfect and is the only one not sent back to the zoo.

#8 Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin

Pete the Cat books have excellent repetitive text: Poor Pete keeps losing his buttons. Pop goes a button. Did Pete cry? Goodness, no! Buttons come and buttons go. He kept on singing his song: “My buttons, my buttons, my three groovy buttons. My buttons, my buttons, my three groovy buttons. This story is also great to sneak in a quick social skills lesson on always finding the good and not overreacting. 

#9 Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

This is an adorable story in which parents beg their very spunky child to please behave! Great use of simple repetition-”please, baby, PLEASE!” 

#10 Go Sleep in Your Own Bed! By Candace Fleming and Lori Nichols

This book typically makes kids giggle. Each animal goes to bed and finds another animal sleeping in the wrong bed. It repeats “Go sleep in your own bed!” throughout the story. 

Are you ready to grab some repetitive books for your students yet? Which ones would you add to the list?!

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02/15/2022 at 2:56 pm

Fantastic resources! Those are all great books! I appreciate the reminder to use them! Sometimes things are right under my nose and I just forget to use them! You are amazing! I don’t know where you have time for all of this! Thanks a million!

02/16/2022 at 1:54 am

Another Rod Campbell book called ‘Oh Dear’. Buster visits Grandma on the farm and she sends him to collect the eggs. He checks all the animals but ‘No eggs here’ ‘oh dear’.

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How to use books in speech therapy.

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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Fall Books for Speech

Looking for fall books for speech therapy? Here are some of my favorites, plus a few fall activity ideas that your speech students are sure to love.

• By the Light of the Harvest Moon by Harriet Ziefort

2. Awesome Autumn by Bruce Goldstone

This is a fun book with “all kinds of fall facts and fun.” In  a group, see who likes the same fall activities or events and who likes different ones. You can also review concepts of same and different (compare/contrast) and turn taking.

3. I Know It’s Autumn by Eileen Spinelli

In your speech room, have kids describe how they know its autumn. Talk about the five senses and how they relate to the change in season. What does autumn smell like? What does autumn look like? Etc.

4. The Pumpkin Patch by Margaret McNamara

This not only a great fall book but it can help to target social skills. This story opens up conversations to discuss social skills and problem solving. Plus, your kids will love talking about choosing their own pumpkins.

5. Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur

Clever, with beautiful illustrations. Use this book to teach fall vocabulary.

One more “book” is actually a fable that I have turned into a storybook with companion activities.  It’s call The Apple Star . Check it out and let me know what you think!

What are your favorite fall books? How do you use books to target problem areas in speech therapy? Let’s chat about it in the comments!

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8 spring books for speech therapy.

• Books , Easter , Language Bookmarks , Literacy-Based Speech Therapy , Seasonal

Spring Books In Speech Therapy

Although this post focuses on goals to target WHILE reading, make sure to check out my post on evidence-based, pre-reading strategies to implement before you even open the book!

Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson

I LOVE this author. This story is exquisitely illustrated and Fletcher is as sweet as ever trying to take care of his friends. Language goals I use it for:

-Sequencing: there is a specific order of animals he sees as he warns them about the “snow”

-Social/Emotional

-Vocabulary

-Figurative Language

Up In The Garden, Down In The Dirt by Kate Messner

Kids love crawly bugs! The vocabulary is rich and the text is full of opportunities to discuss how all living things serve a purpose to us.

Language goals I use it for:

-Story Recall

-Writing Prompts

Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson

This cute book is great for social scenarios and a great opportunity for discussing putting others before yourself & being a good friend as well as problem/resolution topics.

-Sequencing

The Night Gardener by The Fan Brothers

Something about this book is captivating and mesmerizing. The detailed sketched illustrations throughout tell their own story and provide as much to discuss as the text itself. It’s truly like no other book I’ve seen. The opportunities to discuss setting and mood are ideal.

-Character traits/development

-Story recall

Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson

Who doesn’t love Bear books? I probably have all of them. He’s just so lovable and he has such devoted friends. I love discussing “community” with my students with these books.

-Compare/contrast

-Synonyms and Homonyms

Bee: A Peek-Through Picture Book by Britta Techentrup

Bees get a bad rap, but boy do we need them! A great “science-y” book that has phenomenal tier 2 and 3 vocabulary!

Language goals I use it for: -Vocabulary (hue, dense, trace, burs…)

When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes

-Syntax: great use of complex sentence structure throughout

– Compare/Contrast: this book perfectly describes the differences we see/hear/feel in winter vs. spring

– Describing and EET

– Categories: sort items for winter and spring

I’d love to share these spring language bookmarks with you!

Garden by Anna Milbourne

This is a great little Usborne board book for younger kids. If you are working on positional concepts, this is your book! So many opportunities in this lift-a-flap book to work on describing skills.

language concepts I use it for:

-verbs: fluttering, scampers, buzzing, collecting, diving, pulling, nibbling, munching, clambers

-onomatopoeia: (a middle school concept!) squeak, buzz, munch, nibble – these sound words would be fun to act out!

-positional words: around, under, beside, behind, etc.

-sequencing: the order of the animals in the story that the mouse came across (use photos to review order or manipulatives like these or these ).

-categories: sort out things in a garden vs. other places (farm, ocean, etc.)

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