Using Books in Speech Therapy

There are so many reasons you should be using books in speech therapy. Many SLPs already do this and are great at it. Others shy away from using books in speech therapy for different reasons.

When it comes to using books in speech therapy, I find myself kind of in the middle of the road. I don’t use a book/theme for every session all year long, but I do like to incorporate them into my sessions when I can. Here are some reasons why I like using books in speech therapy:

1. Great for Mixed Groups

I love using books with my mixed speech and language groups because it helps me to address multiple skills in an effective, real world way. To help with this, I often will use the pictures in the book to target words or language skills that may not be explicitly in the book. I will also sometimes tell my own version of the story using the pictures, rather than read every word on the page.

2. Allows You to Address Skills in a Natural Context

Using books in speech therapy allows you to target skills in a context that is more than drill or isolated practice. This is a great way to allow students to apply skills they are learning in a context that is more like what they encounter in their classrooms. This also allows you to provide modeling of skills in a more natural context.

3. Book Companions

There are so many book companions out there that help make using books in speech therapy easier. Using a book companion helps cut down on the time you need to spend planning activities for goals. I have created some book companions for some of my favorite books. I also like to combine book companions. Different content creators have different ideas for how to address skills, so sometimes I use book companions from 2 or 3 different creators at the same time.

Here are some of my favorite books and book companions. (Amazon affiliate links are provided to each book and I make a small commission if you use my link to purchase. Thank you!)

On Meadowview Street

This is a great spring book that tells the story of a little girl who transforms her yard into a beautiful meadow. It’s full of colorful vocabulary and opportunities to compare and contrast. I have a book companion for this book that includes a variety of speech and language activities. You can get it HERE.

Tops & Bottoms

This is such a fun book about a hare who comes up with a tricky business plan to get some vegetables from Bear to help feed his family. The opportunities for language skills are endless. Darla from Ms. Gardenia’s Speech Room has a very thorough preschool book companion for this book. I highly recommend it!

Any There Was an Old Lady Book

I love the Old Lady books for speech therapy. They are repetitive and fun. I love to get silly and creative with all the different things the old lady might swallow. I have an entire bundle of old lady book companions in my TPT store. My favorite old lady resource is this Feed the Old Lady Boom Card deck. It can be paired with any old lady book and allows for a ton of speech sound practice.

These are just a few of my favorite books to use in speech therapy. What are some of your favorites? Leave a comment below. 🙂

Click the image below to read about some of my other tips for speech therapy…