By Susan Dabo, M.S., CCC-SLP
Speech-language pathologists love books. I have a lot of books in my office and at home. It was one of my daughter’s favorite activities and still is to this day. Books can be a great way to work on speech/language goals at home. Here are some ways to implement books to address speech/language goals at home:
Articulation:
- You can use books to target sounds that your child is working on in therapy. Use the books to work on speech sounds at the level appropriate to your child. For example, if they are working on producing their sound in words then you would find pictures or words on each page as you are reading and have the child practice their sound in the word. If they are practicing their sound at the phrase/sentence level then you could give the child a target word and have them use the target word in a phrase/sentence to talk about the picture. If they are on the conversational level then you could have the child talk about each picture independently and listen to make sure they are using their good sound!
Expressive Language:
- Board books with large pictures and few words are great for increasing expressive vocabulary in toddlers. Your child can practice naming objects or actions in the pictures either through imitation or spontaneously.
Receptive Language:
- Usborne books are great for receptive identification of pictures. Ask your child to point to pictures that you name. Provide models by pointing to the picture if this is difficult for your child or provide hand over hand assistance.