Children's Books for Speech Language Pathologists to Use with Students

Hi! My name is Tanya Musselman. I am a Speech Language Pathologist who has been working in the field for 20 years! I am currently working for a school system In Minnesota in the preschool setting with children ages three through six.

Children’s Books for Speech Language Pathologists

Books, Books, Books!!!!

I cannot say enough about them!

I use books every day in every session for a variety of speech and language-related tasks.

Using books is a way to incorporate speech and language practice into a natural activity, while also building positive relations with my students and fostering a love for books.

When targeting speech sounds, I use books that will support both auditory bombardment of the target and production practice.

When I use books for language-related tasks, I often modify the words or use pictures to support my goals and objectives (e.g. plural s, verb +ing, past tense ed, pronouns, auxiliary verbs).

I additionally focus on answering questions (e.g. yes/no, where, what, who, why).

Over the years, I have developed a resource of “go-to” books. Here are some of my favorites:

Books for S Blends:

Spot Book Series (Spot Goes to the Park, Spot Goes to School, Where’s Spot?) by Eric Hill.
I love these books for beginning talkers as well.

Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright
A delightful story about a snowman who keeps doing things to keep him warm causing him to melt. Rhyming and repetitive. The children love this book.

Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
Bear has a difficult time staying up for Christmas. His friends help him.

Books for /l/ and L Blends

Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus, illustrated by Jose Aruego
Leo is a tiger who takes a while to mature.

Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre, illustrated by Zac Retz
A funny story about a boy who loves glue so much that he jumps in it during art.

Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee
Plenty of repetition and fun-to-say sound words like clippity-clop and plippity-plot!

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry
Little Blue gets stuck in the muck so his farm animal friends help him get unstuck. Lots of animal noises, rhyming, and a message of friendship make this a popular reading choice.

Books for /sh/ and /tr/ Blends

Shark Vs. Train by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld
Two boys pick a toy to play with and battle each other during a variety of activities. This funny and clever story also can be used for the tr blend.