It’s finally October! And that means it’s time for all things FALL! My therapy kids and I get so excited for this month because we do a couple weeks of a traditional ‘fall’ theme and then a couple of weeks of a Halloween theme! I’ll share another blog post with 5 fall themed craft ideas, and then later I will share books/crafts for a Halloween theme! So stay tuned!
Why Use Fall Themed Books?
Ok so the theme doesn’t exactly matter – but they sure are fun! But incorporating books into therapy (aka literacy based therapy) is backed by research and considered best practice! According to Tomblin et al. (2000), children with language impairments are at significant risk for reading impairments. Their study showed 52% of children with language impairments also had a reading disability.
With this knowledge, we know that incorporating literacy into our speech – language therapy sessions is powerful. Books expose kids to new vocabulary, good grammar, and varying syntax (sentence structure). More so than what they can get in conversation! Reading them aloud can help students focus on skills such as comprehension, predictions, inferences, etc. when they don’t also have to worry about decoding the text.
Additionally, you can use books to target student specific goals! The pictures are great for eliciting language and speech or asking questions related to their goals. You can target pronouns, prepositions, grammar, vocabulary, basic concepts, plurals, following directions, idioms, context clues, fact/opinion, and main idea! Students can say words from the book, read sentences from the book, or talk about the book to incorporate articulation/fluency/voice goals!
Truly the possibilities with books are endless!
Now without further ado, I present to you my 5 fall themed books that I recommend for speech therapy! In no particular order! (post may contain affiliate links)
1. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
By Steven Kroll
Pros: Super cheap on Amazon, fun storyline – kids love talking about what they would do with such a giant pumpkin
Cons: lengthy
2. Pumpkin Jack
By Will Hubbell
Pros: decent length, good for temporal concepts because talks about lifecycle of pumpkin
Cons: not as fun/exciting/silly as others
3. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves
By Lucille Colandro
Pros: good rhythm/rhyme, silly/fun, part of a series
Cons: some kids could get bored by all the repetition
4. Little Acorn
By Igloo Books
Pros: really pretty/engaging pictures, good rhythm, fun action words/onomatopoeia
Cons: weird font if the child is wanting to read it
5. The Scarecrow
By Beth Ferry
Pros: sweet story on friendship/kindness, beautiful illustrations, simple rhyme
Cons: not as silly/fun as others
Honorable Mentions
- Pete the Cat Falling for Autumn
- We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt
- Apples and Pumpkins
- Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
- Leif and the Fall
- Leaf Man
Tele-Therapy Tip – You can find most of these on YouTube as read alouds!
What other fall books would you recommend??
Can’t wait to share some fall craft ideas and Halloween books next!
xxx *hugs*
Emily
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