How to Use the Same Book for Multiple Speech and Language Therapy Sessions

As a super busy school-based SLP, I don’t have a ton of extra time for planning tons of different lessons for all of my different speech therapy goals across all of the different ages and grade levels. One way I work around that is by using books and themes in almost all of my speech and language therapy sessions!

One of my favorite reasons for using books in speech therapy is it is evidence-based practice! There are TONS of research papers out there that explain all of the different benefits of using books in therapy. However, this particular blog post will not go into detail on all of the research. BUT…I will, however, tell you my favorite ways to use books in my mixed group sessions. Before I tell you my favorite ways to expand a book, let me tell you “WHY” you should use books in speech therapy for multiple sessions! There are SO many reasons why you should use a book across multiple narrative-based intervention sessions. Here are some of my biggest reasons:

1. There is less lesson planning for me as a busy school-based SLP.
2. Using the same story for multiple sessions enhances the students’ memory (Mira, W. & Schwanenflugel, P., 2013) -[See the full references at the end of this post.]
3. It also helps with generalization and maintenance of newly learned skills (Spencer, T. D. & Petersen, D., 2020)

And it allows a deeper dive into the vocabulary and story structure while also reinforces what was previously taught Now that you know the “WHY” for using books for multiple speech therapy sessions, “HOW” exactly do you do that?

There are so many ways you can expand a book to last multiple speech and language therapy sessions. Some of my favorite ways to expand a book is to:

1. Add extension activities
2. Pair the book with toys
3. Pair the book with games
4. Add some no prep activities

Idea #1: Add Extension Activities What exactly do I mean by “extension activities?” Extension activities are additional activities that are used to reinforce the target concepts and vocabulary. Some examples of extension activities are making a craft, using a sensory bin, a scavenger hunt for similar vocabulary, and articulation drill practice, just to name a few. Idea #2: Pair the Book with Toys When deciding which toys to pair with my book, I ask myself a few questions. Some of the questions I ask myself are:

• What is the theme of this book?
• What are the characters? (For example, are they bears?)
• Do I have any open-ended toys with this theme or character?

For example, if I had chosen the book, Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson, I could choose toys with a food theme and/or a bear theme. I could use plastic food items with a toy kitchen and add some stuffed bears.

Idea #3: Pair the Book with Games I ask myself the same questions as I do with toys. For the example above, I could pair the book with the game “Greedy Granny” or “Beware of the Bear.” The number of games and activities you can pair with books is endless! Idea #4: Add Some NO PREP Activities NO PREP activities such as print and go worksheets or digital activities, can help speech and language therapy targets generalize into other contexts as well as continue engaging the students. There are TONS of resources on websites such as Teachers Pay Teachers or games and activities on learning websites (such as PBS Kids). Want some NO PREP activities that pair well with books? CLICK HERE. Books are such incredible tools for speech and language therapy sessions, but sometimes as a busy school-based SLP, it can be difficult to make books engaging for all of your mixed groups!

Want to learn even MORE evidence-based tips, ideas, and strategies for effectively using children’s books in narrative-based speech and language therapy sessions? Earn professional development hours (PDH) while learning how to:

• Choose the PERFECT book for your mixed group therapy sessions
• Find speech and language therapy targets in any book
• Plan narrative-based interventions
• Use books with mixed therapy groups
• Take data and write goals for narrative-based therapy
• Use books with gestalt language processors
• AND SO MUCH MORE!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ann D. says: "Why reinvent the wheel when Stacey did all the work for you! She has so much experience using books in therapy, This course has a wealth of in- depth samples… I’m super eager to implement all the suggested books, handouts, strategies and tips from this course.”

Learn more TODAY by clicking the picture below.👇

Research References:

Mira, W. & Schwanenflugel, P. (2013). The impact of reading expressiveness on the listening comprehension of storybooks by prekindergarten children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 44, 183-194. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2012/11-0073)

Spencer, T. D. & Petersen, D. (2020). Narrative intervention: Principles to practice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51, 1081-1096. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00015