Why I love using books in therapy...
“Literacy is perhaps the most important factor contributing to academic and economic success, and also plays an important role in social interactions.” (Spracher, 2000)
“It seems increasingly clear that the literacy achievement gap that is already present for many students when they enter kindergarten must be effectively closed in the early years of school.” (Foster and Miller, 2007)
- I can address a wide variety of vocabulary! My students often have difficulty with comprehension because of their lack of vocabulary knowledge. When we introduce a new book into our therapy sessions we go through and identify important Tier 1 or Tier 2 vocabulary words. We match Tier 1 words with pictures and actions if necessary and we use context clues to help define Tier 2 vocabulary words. When we determine the meaning of our Tier 2 vocabulary words we often act them out. For example, we are currently reading “Pumpkin Soup” by Helen Cooper. One word my students had difficulty understanding was paced. Once we determined through context clues what paced meant we all stood up and started to pace. Now when I ask what pace means everyone of my students can tell me.
- I can address comprehension skills! This one is obvious! My students often perform significantly better on comprehension tasks when the story is read aloud to them, rather than requiring them to read the story themselves. We work on both receptive and expressive comprehension skills. We use often use the text and picture cues to help when needed. We work hard on using context clues as a strategy to increase comprehension.
- I can address sequencing! Sequencing is a prerequisite skill for my students writing summaries of the books they have read. My fourth graders are required to write a summary of the books they have read before they take an AR test.
- I can address high frequency sight words! When we come across a sight word, I will often stop and allow my students to read.
- I can address main ideas and details! This helps with those difficult summaries and improves writing skills.
- I can address pragmatic skills! We can determine the problems in a story and brainstorm the best, most socially acceptable solutions.
- I can address speech sounds! I will often have my students read the words containing the speech sound we are targeting.
- I can address rhyming, blending, segmenting, and print awareness! All of these skills are imperative for increased literacy awareness!
- I can address descriptive qualities, as well as, compare and contrast! For the younger students we might discuss categories, same/different, what does not belong, etc. and for the old students we can compare and contrast items in the books, styles of books, authors, etc.
These are only a few of the ways I can use books to support speech and language goals!
I love that I can use both fiction and non-fiction to keep my students engaged while addressing almost all of our language skills/goals. I will do everything I can to keep my kids interested in books and reading!
Why do you love to use books in your therapy sessions!? What are your favorite books to use?!
If you missed my post about tests and success with my fourth grade students click here to read.
There is currently a giveaway going on over on The Speech Owl’s facebook page. Head over there, like my page, and comment on the post to win my newest book companion before it’s up in my store! Giveaway ends Tuesday, October 28th at 8:00pm CST.
See you soon!
The Speech Owl
Spracher, M.M. (2000, April 25). Learning About Literacy: SLPs Play A Key Role In Reading, Writing. The ASHA Leader.
Foster, W. A and Miller, M. (2007). Development Of The Literacy Achievement Gap: A Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Through Third Grade. Language, Speech and Hearing Services In Schools. 38 173-181.
I was lucky and got paired up with Kelly from Speech2u! After searching her store for the perfect product, I finally decided on “Articulation Pies” for early developing phonemes. I always love new ideas for articulation! 
