10 Best Books for Speech Therapy - Part 1
We LOVE books! Speech therapists often use books in speech therapy sessions to work on speech sounds, language skills and social skills. On The Speech Source Podcast, one of the areas we highlight during our Friday Favorites is books! Here is a recap from the last year of our top 10 books to use for speech and language:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
This is a classic, and one everyone should have in their library! It’s a board book, so very durable. There are so many different speech and language skills to target including color and animal vocabulary, rhyming and repetition, matching, and story recall and retell. Two of our favorite activities to pair with this book for additional play are the Brown Bear Magna-Tiles and the Brown Bear Bulletin Board set. With the bulletin board set, it’s fun to cut them in half, laminate them and work on matching colors or matching heads to tails!
Baby Nose to Baby Toes by Vickey Ceelen
Another board book! These are always great because babies can interact and play with them without the worry of tearing or bending pages. This book has real photos, so it’s very engaging! It’s a great way to work on body parts, either matching to own, labeling or just pointing in the book. It’s a quick read with minimal words, so easy to get through with little ones!
Listen Here for more details on why we love Brown Bear and Baby Nose to Baby Toes
Press Here by Herve Tullet
This is a fun one, especially for kids who are a little bit older. Throughout the book, you are having the child follow certain directions (push the yellow dot, clap loud or soft, blow, move the book to the left, etc.). Once they complete the action, something new happens on the next page appearing as though they magically made it happen! It’s exciting to see their reactions and watch their surprise.
Things that Go (My First Search and Find)
Calling all car, truck, digger and movement lovers! This book is for you! Talk about allllll the vocabulary. This book targets all of the different language for things that go. Work on pointing out each of the different vehicles to eventually labeling throughout. This book can definitely grow with the child as skills develop. Plus, it’s another board book which means a longer shelf life :).
Listen Here for more details on why we love Press Here and Things that Go
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Another classic! This book works on rhyming and rhythm also. It helps with identifying letter names and what each letter looks like. It’s playful and fun and a great introduction into the awareness of letters and sounds. Location concepts and predictions can also be targeted in this silly book! This book also has many different outside activities that can be paired with when reading through it, including these magna-tiles.
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
It’s obvious this author is a favorite. His books are simple, engaging, durable, memorable and always seem to work on important language skills. In this book, he’s targeting imitation with gestures. Turning your head, stomping your feet, clapping your hands, and shrugging your shoulders are just a few. It also targets animal vocabulary and the pronouns “I” and “you” while asking a question. Imitating actions is such an important skill even before kids start talking. It’s what we call a prelinguistic skill in language. This book is a fun and easy way to work on this! Remember the Magna-Tiles with Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom? Here they are with this book, too!
Listen Here for more details on why we love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and From Head to Toe
Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton
Lots of wiggles during book time before bed? This book is for you! Get up and MOVE! Another super fun and silly way to work on imitating actions. All of the farm animals are dancing, the words are rhyming, actions are happening, and you can even add a little tune to make this book your own. Kiddos will definitely stay engaged with this book and get some energy out before needing to settle down.
Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia
Bright colors and fun sounds! This book is a great way to work on environmental sounds, directional concepts, colors and other properties. It’s another one your little ones will love! These are some great cars to pair with this book while reading.
Listen Here for more details on why we love Barnyard Dance and Toot Toot Beep Beep
Poke-A-Dot Farm and Poke-A-Dot Colors
These Melissa and Doug Poke-A-Dot books are a great way to get kids involved in story time. Each page has a dot that needs to be pressed in on the targeted vocbulary (an animal, color, etc.). Starting with 10 dots all the way to 1 dot, kids will love getting to pop their way through this book!
Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg
This is a sweet story about how “mistakes” or “mess ups” can turn into something beautiful. It’s interactive and exciting with pop ups and life the flap pages. If you need an encouraging and positive read, this one is of you!
Listen Here for more details on why we love Poke-A-Dot books and Beautiful Oops
These books are all great staples to have in a children’s library and offer some wonderful ways to work on speech and language skills during the early years!