I love books. I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember. Going to the library and bringing home a stack of books was one of my favorite things as a child. My parents had to clear out a shelf on the bookcase just for me since my stack was always so big. As an adult, my love for books hasn’t slowed down… in addition to my own reading, books are also one of my favorite therapy tools.

Children’s books have a third more rare vocabulary than an adult television show and twice as many vocabulary words than are found in college students’ conversations.  Basically they are small packages that pack a big punch!  And before I launch into how great they are for therapy and eliciting language, a couple of book facts to really drive home the power of books:

1. The single most influential factor of a child’s early educational success is an enjoyable introduction to books and being read to at home prior to starting school.

2.  By the age of 2, children who are read to regularly have greater language comprehension, larger vocabularies, and higher cognitive skills than their peers who are not read to regularly.

3. In addition to developing language and cognitive skills, reading aloud to young children also builds motivation, curiosity, and memory.

4. Children with greater access to books express more enjoyment of books, reading, and academics.

So, now that we have established that books are amazing… some tips on how to reap all the rewards that books have to offer!

Expressive Language

Books allow ample opportunities to talk about what is going on. Remember that reading a book doesn’t have to be just read the book, the end. You can spend as much time on a page as you like. When kids are little and can’t yet read, you don’t have to actually read all the words on the page. Talking about the pictures and making up a story based on those pictures is just as valuable!

Have the child retell what happened at the end of each page or at the end of the book. The ability to make a synopsis is a beginning skill for note taking and picking out the important parts.

Ask the child to label everything that they see. You can make this a little more difficult by asking them to name all the things that are alive (“Is a tree alive? It grows!”), all the things they see that are made out of paper, all the things you can eat, etc.

If your child is working on combining words, you can give them a starter phrase and then have say each sentence for each item (ex., “I see a cow. I see a dog. I see a cat.”)

 Receptive Language 

Books are great for receptive language! You can target a whole host of receptive language activities!

Ask the child to point to an object that you see. You can make this more difficult by adding the number of items the child is to point to or by adding prepositions to the direction (for example, “Point to five things that are red.” “Point to the car after you point to the dog.”)

Ask the child various questions about the book (ex. who, what, when, where) including higher order thinking skills such as prediction and why/how questions. Even if the child struggles, supplying them the answer is great (ex. “I think the dog is going to take a nap because…”). Walking a child through your train of thought is a very valuable to learning!

Phonological Awareness 

A child’s phonological awareness skills are one of the best predictors of early reading performance. In a nutshell, phonological awareness is the skill that allows you to break a word into its individual sounds.  It’s what allows you to know that “ship” and “sip” are two different words. It’s also why when a child insists that they said “ship” when they really said “sip” is concerning. About 50% of children who struggle with articulation will go on to have reading difficulties and it all starts with phonological awareness skills. So how to target those skills in a book…

When looking at a picture book, ask the child to point to all the pictures that start with the _____ sound.  You can make this task more difficult by asking that they only tell you the pictures that have that sound in the middle of words or as the last sound of the word.

After you have read a sentence, ask them how many words were in that sentence.

Ask the child, “What rhymes with _____?” Or provide two words and ask if they rhyme.

Ask the child to put the word together after you break it into its parts (for example, “What word does g-lass make?” “What word does b-u-g make?”) You can also see if they can break down a word for you!

Articulation

As mentioned above, phonemic awareness and articulation skills like to hang out together. If your child has been working on a particular sound in speech, see if they can identify those words or pictures during the book. Added bonus if you say each word a couple of times or in a phrase or sentence!

But most importantly, remember that there is no wrong way to enjoy a book with your child!

About the Author

Janene Besch

Director/Speech-Language Pathologist

Janene Besch, née Martin, holds a Master’s degree in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences from San Diego State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California at San Diego. Janene is a member of the American Academy of Private Practice in Speech Pathology
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