Bringing Children’s lit into therapy – The Speech Meadow https://thespeechmeadow.com Where good communication comes to grow Mon, 16 Sep 2024 01:50:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 https://thespeechmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Favicon-01-150x150.png Bringing Children’s lit into therapy – The Speech Meadow https://thespeechmeadow.com 32 32 Using The Apple Pie Tree in Speech Therapy https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/09/using-the-apple-pie-tree-in-speech-therapy.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/09/using-the-apple-pie-tree-in-speech-therapy.html#respond Thu, 27 Sep 2018 03:03:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/09/bring-childrens-lit-into-therapy-wi.html Zoe Hall’s book, The Apple Pie Tree is a story that talks about what happens to and around an apple tree throughout the year and ends with the children baking an apple pie.  It is a great book to work on a speech and language goals.  Here are some ideas to use The Apple Pie Tree in Speech Therapy.
Title: Using The Apple Pie Tree in Speech Therapy

Articulation

The Apple Pie Tree is loaded with /p,/ /b,/ and blends making it a great book to work on those sounds. Many also occur multiple times allowing children say their sounds many times.  Here is a list:

  • /p/ sound:  pie, petals, papa, peel, picked, pan, pile, apple(s), open, top/
  • b/ sound: bare, bee, but, building, buds, baby, birds,  big, bend, basket, Robin(s),
  • Blends: grow, brown, spring, branch, tree, flower, break, blossoms, breeze, blow, ground, fly, strong, small, brim, sprinkle, smells, taste,

One idea is to have your child/student listen for a specific word, and each time they hear it, they tap the table. Then they say the word.  Similarly have the child listen for their sound and tap when they hear it.

Language

1. Plurals: There are many opportunities to work on plurals. E.g., Robin/Robins Look at the illustrations and talk about the pictures to work on plurals.

2. Verbs and verb tenses: The Apple Tree contains so many verbs.  It is a great book to work on both regular and irregular past tense.  Here are some of the verbs in the story: grow, watch, build, chirp, guard, open, break, cover, blow, fall, teach, fly, rain, visit, bend, cover, pick, help, cut, pile, sprinkle, cook, eat, smell, and taste.  A therapy ideas is to ask what is happening in the story or have the children act it out in play to build understanding and use of verbs.

3. Describing the illustrations:  Many of the pictures include items/ideas that are not talked about explicitly in the text.  For example, they talk about summer and show children playing in a sprinkler. Have your student tell you what’s in the picture.  How much detail do they give.  Do they tell you the main ideas of the picture or focus on the minute details? This would also be great to start to work on inferencing.

4. Sequencing: There are many great opportunities to describe sequences.  The book talks about the change in seasons.  It talks about the life cycle of Robins.  It talks about the life cycle of an apple, and it also shares a recipe for how to make apple pie.  Additionally, the back of the book has a section where they talk about how bees pollinate flowers.

Supplemental Activities

1. Sensory Bins:  Make a sensory bin out of oats, flour, apple pie spice, cinnamon sticks,  and real/fake/counting apples.  Add in measuring cups, measuring spoons, muffins tins, and spoons. Have children pretend to make apple pie.  Use some of the vocabulary from the book.  Note: if you have students that are gluten-free or are allergic to any ingredients from the sensory bin, please do not add them.

2. Make Apple Pie: There is an apple pie recipe at the back of the book that you can make with the students.  You can also use tart shells so that everyone’s dietary restrictions can be accommodated.  Talk about the steps you need to do to make the pie.  Focus on verbs, use many that are in the story.  When the pies are done, talk about the pie’s smell and the pie’s taste.

3. Make a large apple tree out of paper:  Hang it up on a wall and add apples for the children to pick.  Add different colour and size apples for children to work on following directions. Alternatively, go through the year with the tree starting with snow, then flowers, then leaves, then apples, then leaves falling.

4. Have children sort objects by seasons.  Sort a variety of objects by when you see them/use them during the different seasons.  For a season sorting file folder and class activity visit here.

5. Watch videos with time-lapsed video of a life cycle of an apple tree. Talk about what the children see.  Have the children answer questions about the video.

6. Have children plant apple seeds in a clear cup.  Look at the seeds and comment/describe what is changing.

These are some of my ideas. Form more ideas on using literacy in your sessions, go here  For ideas on how to use apples in push-in therapy, click here. How would you use The Apple Pie Tree in speech therapy?

]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/09/using-the-apple-pie-tree-in-speech-therapy.html/feed 0 Reviewing the “Something to Say” Book Series https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/07/reviewing-something-to-say-book-series.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/07/reviewing-something-to-say-book-series.html#respond Sun, 01 Jul 2018 16:51:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/07/reviewing-something-to-say-book-series.html I typically don’t do reviews on this blog, but I am today. I am going to review the books in the series “Something to Say” written by Eden Molineux.  Now I don’t have any financial interest in these books. I purchased these books from Amazon. However, she is a Speech-Language Pathologist from Alberta, and we do have friends/former colleagues in common.  The speech world can be a tiny community.  

Overall these books are well written with simple language that children in preschool, kindergarten and through grade one would readily understand. They read like social stories in that they talk about their communication difficulties and some strategies that the listeners/children can use.  They are also about children who typically are not represented in books, especially for that age group. As a result, they would also be good to read in classrooms even if there are no children who stutter, mispronounce their words, or use a talker to communicate.

These books also point out interests that the children may have which shows that children are not just their “communication disorder” which I think is an important point to raise not only for the children hearing the story but also for the adults reading it.  

If you looking to expand your collection of books for the preschool/kindergarten age range, I would recommend picking these books up.  Here is a link to the Something to Say website if you are interested: http://somethingtosay.net 
]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/07/reviewing-something-to-say-book-series.html/feed 0 Bringing Lit into Speech Therapy with “Oh No!” https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/04/bringing-lit-into-speech-therapy-with.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/04/bringing-lit-into-speech-therapy-with.html#respond Sun, 22 Apr 2018 19:28:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/04/bringing-lit-into-speech-therapy-wi.html As you know, I am a strong believer in reading to children and using books in therapy.  One book that I have been loving of late, is called, “Oh No!” by Patrick George.  It is a wordless book that shows a variety of situations, such as a boy climbing a tree to get his kite and then what could happen.  There is a transparent page that when you turn it, shows what happened.

 
The pictures are cute but would still be appropriate for children up to about grade three.  Here are five ideas on how you could use this book in therapy:

1.  Answering questions.  This book lends itself well to working on questions.  You can target, “where” questions, “why” questions, “What is he/she/it doing?,” “What do think will happen?,”  “How did X happen?,” “Why did X happen?” and “What happened?” 

2.  Describing a scene. These pictures are simple enough to not be overwhelming but have enough detail that they would be good for children to describe them.

3.  Sequencing.  These are two picture scenes that could work well on, “First X happens, then Y happens.”

4.  Narratives.  This piggybacks on working on sequencing.  Because there are only pictures and each vignette is two pages long, they are great for working on developing a story.

5. Inferencing.  You don’t see everying part of the scene.  For example, when the boy is climbing the tree, you only see part of the kite or when the boy is kicking a ball, you don’t see the ball.  The children have to infere part of the scene to fully understand it.  


Have you used this book in therapy? And do you have other suggestions on how to use it?
]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2018/04/bringing-lit-into-speech-therapy-with.html/feed 0 Using Pirate, Viking, and Scientist in Speech Therapy https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/09/pirate-viking-scientist-in-speech-therapy.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/09/pirate-viking-scientist-in-speech-therapy.html#respond Fri, 15 Sep 2017 01:57:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/09/bring-childrens-lit-into-therapy-wi-2.html Pirate, Viking, and Scientist by Jared Chapman is an engaging book about a scientist who is friends with a pirate and a Viking, but the pirate and the Viking are not friends.  Follow the scientist as he tries to help the Viking and the pirate become friends. It is a favourite for boys, especially those who are hard to engage.  This book also provides excellent opportunities to work on speech and language goals with children from the first grade through second grade and onto the first half of third grade. Here are some ideas on how to use Pirate, Viking, and Scientist in speech therapy.
"Using Pirate, Viking, Scientist in speech therapy" with a picture of the book cover a pirate & a viking looking angrily at one another and a scientist in the middle.

Social Language Goals

The story is about making friends, so it lends itself to talking about the different ways the scientist tries to help the pirate and the Viking become friends.  It is an excellent opportunity to talk about what worked and what did not.   As well, you can discuss why you think the pirate and the Viking were not friends at the beginning of the story? What other ways could the scientist have tried to help pirate and Viking become friends?  Finally, the two become friends when they discouver how much they have common.  Again, you could talk about questions to ask others when getting to know someone. As well, talk about proper behaviour at a birthday party.  What is wrong with the pirate eating cake with his hands?  Should the Viking have pushed the cake onto the pirate?  What could they have done instead?

Language Goals

 
Pirates and Vikings have a lot in common.  Use a Venn diagram to talk about what is the same and different.  Another fun activity is to have the children dress up like a pirate or a Viking and have them describe what they are wearing. 
 
The scientist uses a slew of scientific words such as hypothesis, experiments, and calculations.  Other tier two words in the story include pillaging, plundering, fuming, seething, and foes.  This can also be a great book to talk about synonyms which makes using Pirate, Viking, and Scientist in speech therapy a fun idea.
 

Articulation Goals

Many of the tier two words are two and three-syllable words.  This book contains many /s/ words in all positions including scientist, seething, instinct, smooth, and answer. The word Viking is frequently repeated throughout this story. This story contains many /r/ terms such as friends, pirate, Saturday, mornings, favourite, experiment, observe, and laughter. 
 
It is a great addition to a pirate theme, and at the same time, it works on more functional science vocabulary. It has been a hit in my therapy room so if you are looking for a fun book to read during treatment, this would be an excellent candidate!  (As usual, this post does not contain affiliate links.)
Do you use  Pirate, Viking, and Scientist in speech therapy? if so, how do you use it? Also, check out how to use Nicholas Oldland’s book by clicking here.
]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/09/pirate-viking-scientist-in-speech-therapy.html/feed 0 Earth Day Speech Books https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/04/earth-day-speech-books.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/04/earth-day-speech-books.html#respond Sun, 02 Apr 2017 15:26:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/04/bringing-childrens-lit-into-therapy.html As you can tell, I LOVE to use books during speech and language therapy.  This week I thought I would talk about a couple of great speech therapy books for Earth Day. As usual, this post does not contain affiliate links.  I just really like these earth day speech books.  
 

Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel

The Earth Day speech therapy book is Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel. A superhero called Michael Recycle come to a town and gets everyone in the town to start recycling. This book talks about why you should recycle and what you should recycle.  It is highly engaging and the kids seem to really enjoy it. Some of the children get thrown by the fact that Michael has eyelashes in the illustrations.  They are unsure if he is a boy or a girl.  It is a good opportunity to talk similarities and differences about people looks. This book has lots of rhyming pairs, e.g. “glitter” and “litter.”  It is also great for building vocabulary by using words such as “hazy,” “rotten,” and “colander” and contains a variety of verbs. It is also great for all sorts of categorization activities.  As well,  Michael Recycle uses lots of “L” and “R” blends for speech therapy. Michael Recycle meets Litterbug Doug is another fun book in the series.

Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland

Big Bear Hug looks at conservation and is a great book for an Earth Day theme. The story is about a big bear in the forest who loves to give hugs, especially to trees, but what happens when the bear meets a logger looking to chop down some of the old trees? This book is great to work on a variety of social language skills (perspective taking and emotions), problem-solving, and predicting.  Big Bear Hug usually creates discussions about what the children would do if they were in the bear’s shoes.  It also lends itself to talking about what we make with wood. To learn how else to use Nicholas Oldland’s books in speech therapy, click here.

 

Here is a little freebie that you can access (Click here).  What are some of your favourite Earth Day books?

]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/04/earth-day-speech-books.html/feed 0 Bring Children’s Lit into Therapy with “The Hockey Sweater” https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/02/bring-childrens-lit-into-therapy-with-3.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/02/bring-childrens-lit-into-therapy-with-3.html#respond Mon, 06 Feb 2017 02:25:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/02/bring-childrens-lit-into-therapy-wi-3.html I have been feeling a little nostalgic of late and in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, I thought I would talk about using the book, “The Hockey Sweater” in therapy (no affiliate links).  It is a classic Canadian children’s book.  It is about a boy growing up in Quebec in 1946. All he wants is a new Maurice Richard Montreal Canadiens jersey.  What he gets instead is a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Needless to say, he was devastated. This is a great book for early elementary students, especially sports crazy boys.  

“The Hockey Sweater” lends itself perfectly for social language groups.  One of the reasons is that this really happened to the author, Roch Carrier. Here are some ideas:

1. Identifying emotions:  Roch goes from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.  Students can identify how he is feeling and why he feels the way he does.  

2. Problem solving:  There are many opportunities to talk about solving problems.  What would you do if you were given the wrong jersey? What would you say to your mom? Would you have worn the jersey? How would you have dealt with the hockey coach or all the other children who tease him? What would you have done if you got a penalty? What would you have said if your friend showed up with the “enemies” jersey?

3. Getting to know about another:  This provides a great opportunity to work on conversation skills. What is your favourite sport, team, player?  Why?  What should the children do if they don’t like another child’s favourite team?  This also makes a great writing exercise.


Here is a great National Film Board video retelling the story.  If you are thinking about showing it to your students, just know that there is a little French at the start and the narrator has a Quebecois accent. 

Along with social language, it is great for targeting hockey related vocabulary, verbs and I have also had the children work on describing different hockey jerseys.  In addition, I have had the children design their own jersey (homework) then describe it the next time in therapy.  How would you use this book in therapy?
]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2017/02/bring-childrens-lit-into-therapy-with-3.html/feed 0 Speech Therapy with Books by Nicholas Oldland https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/08/speech-therapy-with-books-by-nicholas-oldland.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/08/speech-therapy-with-books-by-nicholas-oldland.html#comments Sun, 28 Aug 2016 21:38:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/08/bring-childrens-lit-into-therapy-roo.html As you know, I’m a big fan of using books in therapy.  This week I thought I would bring you a series of books.  Nicholas Oldland’s books are great for building vocabulary,  working on social language goals, story grammar and comprehension goals. They are well written and the kids enjoy listening to them and are perfect for children from grade one through grade three. Here are some speech ideas for books by Nicholas Oldland

The Big Bear Hug

Cover of Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland. A black bear is hugging on a pine tree.Big Bear Hug is a story about a bear who loved to hug, especially trees. He spots a logger has to figure out what to do when the logger starts to chop down a tree.  This is great for problem solving, talking about feelings and the story talks about different types of trees which is great for building vocabulary.  For more information, check out how to use Big Bear Hug for Earth Day (click here).
 

Making The Moose Out of Life

Cover of the book Making the Moose Out of Life. Picture of moose with a cliff on the background. On the cliff is a black bear looking down at a beaver.Making the Moose out of Life  This is a story about a moose who always has an excuse about why he couldn’t join his friends fun.  Then he goes on an unplanned grand adventure. This shows that trying new things can be scary but life will be so much better when you try.  It again is good for working on building vocabulary.  It contains a variety of verbs, adjectives and words describing weather. 

The Busy Beaver

Cover of the book, "The Busy Beaver." The illustration is of a large beaver eating a branch near a river with trees in the background.The Busy Beaver  This is a story about a beaver who is unaware of his surroundings and is careless. He gets into an accident and realizes he needs to change his ways.  This is a great story to talk about why the beaver is not a good friend in the beginning and how to apologize to friends.  It is also a great story for talking about why you need to be aware of what is going on around.

Walk on the Wild Side

Cover of "Walk on the Wild Side" Cover has a picture of a moose, a black bear, and a beaver walking in a line.Walk on the Wild Side  In this story, the beaver, moose and bear let their competitive nature get them into trouble.  This is another good story to talk about solving problems (e.g. “what would you do?”) I also like it because it talks about the different strengths of the animals.  A great extension activity is to have the group talk about their strengths.

Up the Creek

Book title, "Up the Creek" with a picture oc a moose, black bear, and a beaver paddling in a red canoe. Up the Creek  This is a story about the beaver, moose and bear going on a canoe trip and all the trouble that ensues. This is a great story to talk about team work and negotiating with friends and solving problems. Another great activity is to have the children plan their own trip together. This story also uses lots of boating vocabulary such stern and portage.  
 
If you are looking for some different materials to bring into your social groups, these books by Nicholas Oldland might be just the ticket. 
]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/08/speech-therapy-with-books-by-nicholas-oldland.html/feed 1 Using Mix it Up in Speech Therapy https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/05/bringing-childrens-lit-into-therapy-2.html https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/05/bringing-childrens-lit-into-therapy-2.html#respond Mon, 16 May 2016 01:54:00 +0000 https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/05/bringing-childrens-lit-into-therapy-2.html

As you have seen in previous posts, I love to use books in therapy.  This week I’d love to talk about the book Mix It Up by Herve Tullet (As usual, I don’t profit in any way in promoting this book). You might know him from his other book, Press Here.  Speech Sprouts wrote a great post on how to use Press Here in therapy (click here for a link to that post).  Here’s why I love using Mix It Up in speech therapy.

"using Mix It Up in speech therapy" a picture of the book cover on a painting of random blue , yellow and green strokes.

Make Predictions

Mix it Up teaches children about what happens when you mix colours. It is highly engaging. It encourages children to talk to the book by asking the children to make predictions (e.g. “what would happen if I rubbed a little yellow on blue?”).  I also like how it goes over the same material in different ways which is so beneficial for children with language delays.

Increase Verbs Understanding and Use

Mix it Up uses a variety of verbs such as rub, smudge, and tilt. Children also get to see the verbs in action which helps with comprehension and you can incorporate them into later art projects. As an activity I have had the children recreate parts of the book which has been a great hit.

Describing Skills

I have also use this book to work on describing skills.  The pictures as simple enough for children learning to describe what they see but still provide enough variety of vocabulary.  As you can see in the picture above, children can talk about making patterns, painting long stripes, using the colours blue and red.  As an extension activity, I have had children paint a simple picture and describes their picture or one of their friend’s picture.

Time Concepts

I have used Mix it up in speech to introduce and work on time concepts such as before and after.  One activity I really like is a group painting activity (although it could be a one on one or smaller group activity). I did this activity the other day and it went great!

I used three colours  (green, yellow and blue) and a visual board to help with the order of the directions.  I had a small swatch of each of the colours. I first told the direction and put the colours in the appropriate places not the visual board.  Next, I then repeated the instruction again as the child is adding their part to the painting. The children really responded well and as they become more proficient, you can use less and less cuing. 

Social Language

Another reason I like this group painting exercise is that the children will often (and I encourage them) to make comments about the other children’s work. It is good for

  • using conversational starters such as “what is your favourite colour?” or “what do like to paint?”
  • learning to give compliments (e.g. “I like your bug.” or “Your man is cool.”)
  • learning to accept compliments (this can be so challenging for some).
  • learning when to talk and when to wait their turn or when it is time to listen or watch. 
  • helping children take turns and work as a team.
Using Mix It Up in speech therapy lends itself nicely to child directed therapy. For more information check out this post (click here). Have you used Mix it Up in therapy?
]]> https://thespeechmeadow.com/2016/05/bringing-childrens-lit-into-therapy-2.html/feed 0