Three Outstanding Books for /r/ Sound Practice

This post is designed for speech-language pathologists who are working with students on learning the /r/ sound. Once students are at the sentence level, you may want to incorporate books into your sessions to practice the /r/ sound in a fun and engaging way. This post outlines three books I keep coming back to at this stage.

Three Outstanding Books for /r/ Sound Practice

Books are fun to read in speech therapy sessions, but not all books are designed the same. In over a decade in this profession, there are a lot of books I only used for a few sessions, and then donated or got rid of. As SLPs, we are looking for books that are versatile, fun, have a good sequence of events, and hopefully have a quality insight or lesson. These are SLP-approved books that hit all these criteria. I’ve been using them for years and hope you can, too.

(Amazon affiliate links are used in this blog post)

Chrysanthemum

This book is about Chrysanthemum, a little mouse who starts to feel self-conscious about her name. Over time, she learns about the upsides of being unique, different, and fully herself. Grab this book because of the /r/ sounds, and keep it because it’s a great book to also use with all your students on sequencing and story retell.

A House for Hermit Crab

In this book, a hermit crab takes his time making his shell as home-like as possible. He decorates his shell with things he finds in the sea until it’s perfect. Then, he realizes he’s outgrown his shell and needs to leave it behind. What happens next is a sweet lesson for students about giving and friendship. This is another book you’ll grab for the /r/ sound and keep using over and over for your language students as well.

The Polar Express

Although I typically dig this book out around December, it really could be used more often. There’s an abundance of /r/ sounds in this book, and it’s another sweet story with beautiful illustrations.

Wrapping it up: Three Outstanding Books for /r/ Sound Practice

I hope this book list was helpful for you. I hope these are books you continue to come back to year after year. Using quality books in your speech therapy sessions really does make all the difference. I love these books and hope you do, too!

Sarah Lockhart is a speech-language pathologist with experience in private practice, school settings, telepractice, and travel SLP settings. She owns a private practice in Southern Oregon.

Boo! My Favorite October Books for Preschoolers

My young clients are starting to get excited about October! I’m finding that activities with leaves, fall colors, and pumpkins are a hit come October.

I use books with my clients working on building language and speech sounds. It is exciting to use these books to help my clients better understand what happens in the Fall.

(This post uses Amazon affiliate links)

Why I’m Using Books This October With My Preschoolers

I use books to target a variety of skills, including:

– sequencing

– building vocabulary

– speaking in phrases and sentences

– saying clear speech sounds

This month, here are three books I’m enjoying using in my speech therapy sessions.

1. It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! By Laura Numeroff 

It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! is a great book for building vocabulary and sentence structure. In this book, mouse paints a variety of pumpkins with different emotions. For example, there are sad, happy, and friendly pumpkins. For this activity, I create visual sentence frames. These sentence frames are picture prompts for creating phrases and sentences. For this book, I have sentence frames that say “The pumpkin is ____” with pictures for each word. This way, my students get experience building vocabulary.

I use these pumpkins with varied emotions as a coloring activity as well. In this activity, students color pumpkins and create different faces on each one. This has been a fun activity to practice using emotional vocabulary words in phrases. Most of my students can name some feelings (happy, sad). However,  many of  my students need practice with other emotion words (silly, friendly).

2. EEK! Halloween! By Sandra Boynton

In EEK! Halloween!, the chickens at the farm are afraid of everything they see around Halloween. Why is the elephant dressed as a mouse? Why is there a robot walking around? By the end of the story, the animals realize it’s just Halloween. This author uses rhyme in this book to keep the story going with a fun pace my preschoolers enjoy.

This is a great book for asking “what” questions with children. Also, I use this book to help my clients name objects and speak in phrases.

3. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything  By Linda D. Williams

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything has more words than the two other books I mentioned. This book can be a little too long for some of my youngest clients. However, I’ve used this book for several years in a row and I still enjoy it as much as my clients do.

This book features an old lady who walks through the woods. A glove follows her. Pants follow her. Each object has its own noise, which my clients love. By the end, the little old lady makes a scarecrow out of the objects that followed her. This story ends well for all involved.

I also use printed objects (gloves, pants) which I have enlarged and laminated. I bring out the objects while we are reading the book. This keeps my younger clients engaged.

A Summary of My Favorite October Books

I enjoy this time of year as an opportunity to read new books with my clients. Since I use books so often in speech therapy, I love having opportunities to read new books with clients. Sometimes, I can get bored reading the same old books. I think my clients feel the same way!

Whenever I’m looking for a new book, I consider the age of the client I’m working with. With toddlers and preschoolers, I especially enjoy sturdy board books. In addition, I look for books with simple sentence structure and new vocabulary words.

If you have a favorite book for October, feel free to send it my way! I’m always looking for new opportunities to expand my own collection.

I hope you find these book suggestions helpful in your search for new books, as well. Many of my clients love talking about October, and I’m enjoying joining in on the fun!

Links1: Articles for Parents and Educators

Welcome to Links 1: Articles to Read, an occasional series. These posts highlight articles focusing on parenting, education, disabilities, topics related to speech language pathology, and anything else helpful to parents and professionals working with children.

This month, you’ll learn how to help toddlers learn new words, get a global perspective on special education, get information on a book on my to-read list (and maybe it’ll go on yours too!), and how to help children when they feel like giving up.  Read on for the links!

This article contains some Amazon affiliate links.

1 | Background Noise May Negatively Impact Vocabulary of Toddlers

This was a fascinating article. Typically, we consider some background noise (like classical music or white noise) helpful. This type of noise can sometimes help children focus and improve academic performance.

However, background noise can sometimes be a detriment. Some noise (like loud talking, TV or radio noise) can negatively impact vocabulary growth.

“Hearing new words in fluent speech without a lot of background noise before trying to learn what objects the new words corresponded to may help children master new vocabulary,” suggests Jenny Saffran, College of Letters & Science Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who coauthored the study. “But when the environment is noisy, drawing young children’s attention to the sounds of the new word may help them compensate.”

2 | The Mis-Education – And Remarkable Triumph – of Georgina Mamba

This article offers a global perspective on special education.

This link profiles Georgina Mamba, who contracted polio at the age of two, losing the use of her lower limbs. Ms. Mamba describes her childhood classrooms, and how those experiences influenced her beliefs on education and accessibility.

“For someone like myself, who’s in a wheelchair, yes let the building be accessible so I can get into the room. But also, when I come into the room, see me. See me for my strengths. Accept my limitations. But focus on my potential.” Georgina Mamba

3: L Is For Learning: A New Book On Proven Approaches And How Teachers Can Use Them

This book was co-authored by Daniel L. Schwartz, dean of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. The ABCs of How We Learn travels through the alphabet (A through Z), to discuss digestible suggestions for encouraging learning and exploration for children in K-12 education.

This book is now on my to-read list. This interview highlights several topics personally important to my own education philosophy: learning through imaginative play, learning something new by teaching it to someone else, and capturing student’s interests to motivate and inspire.

4 | Transforming Learned Helplessness

Sometimes, children seem to give up on a task before it has begun. Some children come to school with the baggage of past negative experiences.

I’ve had clients who say “It’s too hard,” “I can’t do it,” or who hide their faces and cry when presented with a new activity. Let’s take an example child, Susan.

Susan has a difficult time in school. Susan is one year behind in her academics, but she is making good gains. She is often presented with materials in class she finds too challenging. Susan tells her teachers that she has been wrong so many times, she would rather not try. This is heartbreaking for Susan’s parents and teachers, who know she is capable of so much more than she gives herself credit for.

I have worked with many clients like Susan. This situation is especially challenging when a task is presented that you just know a child can do.

So, what should we do? This article outlines actionable ideas for getting started. I personally look forward to practicing some of these suggestions for a few children I’m working with.

I particularly enjoyed the article’s reference to the growth mindset. This idea is from Carol Dweck and is outlined in her book Mindset. The growth mindset suggests that as we work on more difficult tasks, our brains get better at doing that task.  I read this book last year, and find it applicable to my daily interactions with clients. By explaining to children that their brains are growing as they try harder tasks, children feel in control of the task and are more willing to try something new.

I hope this post has given you some ideas and resources. I’ve enjoyed bookmarking interesting articles to share with you for this post.  Hopefully these links offer you some new ideas, inspiration, and new perspectives. I’ll be sharing the #2 article with a few coworkers this week, and I’ve already put #3 in my Amazon cart. I hope you find some gems and some inspiration in this list as well!

Four Helpful Tips for Communicating with People who Stutter

This post, Four Helpful Tips for Communicating with People who Stutter is an article for parents and educators who would like tips for communicating with people who stutter. This is part 3 of a 3 part series, you can scroll back to the past few articles if you’d like more information on this topic.

Communication Partners and Stuttering

Usually in speech therapy, we work directly with clients to increase communication. However, today I’m talking about another important part of the puzzle: communication partners.

A communication partner is anyone who is speaking with someone else. In this case, the communication partner is you. Specifically, these tips focus on how to be a good communication partner when talking to people who stutter.

Why increase our skills as communication partners?

By doing so, we can be positive, thoughtful, and engaging communicators. If this is something you value, read on for three helpful tips for communicating with people who stutter.

Four Helpful Tips for Communicating with People who Stutter
1: Give Pause Time

This means giving pauses between your own thoughts and ideas. In addition, give your communication partner time to explore their thoughts and ideas. Of course, this is easier said than done.
Anyone who has been in a group communication situation knows this is difficult to put into action. Have you been in a group communication situation where people talk over one another? Where you’ve had something to say, but haven’t been able to say it? Noisiness is no stranger to our culture, and group discussions are no exception.
In these cases, I appreciate the old adage (attributed to Ghandi):
“Be the last person to speak in the room”

Although this isn’t easy, it’s still a value to strive for.

Notes from my clients who stutter on this topic:

“When people talk too fast and I can’t get a word in, I feel like they are going way to fast. When this happens, I feel like there is no space for me to talk. This makes me feel like I don’t want to be a part of the conversation, and it makes me feel like I just want to walk away.”

2: Use Positive Nonverbal Behaviors

Face the person who is talking to you. Make eye contact. Provide nonverbal feedback. This is another piece of advice that is easier said than done. How much time in our culture do we spend listening to each other?

We tend to rush through conversations. We stare at our watch or at the door, or send other negative nonverbal behaviors. When we do these things, we communicate that we don’t really want to be talking with our communication partner.

Certainly, there are times we need to use these behaviors to help us get out of conversations. However, I’ve noticed many of us (myself included) can unintentionally send these messages when we don’t mean to. We live in a rushed culture. We all need to practice being better listeners. Speaking of nonverbal behaviors, checking our phones is one of those. It is a sign of respect to put your phone away when talking to someone else – especially for a person with a communication challenge. In this case, communicating is hard enough. Let’s not make it more difficult for the person who stutters.

3: Maintain Eye Contact

This goes with tip two, but is a little more specific. Focus on making eye contact, particularly during a stuttering event. It’s almost automatic for most people to look away from the person who stutters when they have a stuttering event. Unfortunately, that sends a negative nonverbal message that that person is doing something wrong. Of course, we don’t want to stare our communication partner down.  Eye contact is a powerful tool, so let’s use it to send messages of acceptance to those we care about.

Notes from my clients who stutter on this topic (numbers two and three combined):

“When people do this, it seems like people aren’t listening and it seems like they have no idea what I’m saying and don’t care. I feel frustrated in these situations. “

4: Don’t Tell the Person How to Talk

We each have our own life experience. If you’re talking with a person who stutters, chances are they know more about their own communication than you ever will. Even so, it’s common for communication partners to give people who stutter feedback about how they should be talking. The most common example of this is to tell someone to slow down during a stuttering event. The best way to remind yourself not to do this is to think about the number of hours the person who stutters spends talking. Then, think about the number of hours you have spent either personally stuttering or learning about stuttering. The person who stutters and their experience will win every time. Unless someone asks you for advice, it’s best not to give it. This goes for a lot of social situations. It is especially important when we are talking with someone who has difficulty communicating.

Notes from my clients who stutter on this topic:

“This makes me feel like people are bossing me around. Really, I don’t want anyone to boss me around but my mom. When people do this, it just isn’t helpful. I want to talk on my own. I don’t really need help from other people. I want to speak independently and I want people to listen to my ideas.” 

Taking Responsibility for our own Communication

Remember, by being a positive and engaging communication partner, you will be a better listener. Find space within your conversations. Self monitor your own eye contact and nonverbal behaviors. Don’t give advice to your communication partner unless asked. I would argue this is just plain, good communication advice.
This advice doesn’t just pertain to speaking with people who stutter. In fact, these tips would be helpful for talking to anyone with a communication challenge.

Speech Therapy for Stuttering: What is Your Role?

This is part two in a three part series on stuttering and speech therapy. Part one was an article for parents on what to expect during first speech therapy sessions. You may want to check that out before you read on.

Does your child attend speech therapy for stuttering?

Are you thinking of enrolling your child in speech therapy?

In a new environment, it can often be confusing to figure out who does what. As a parent, you know your child best. The speech language pathologist (SLP) you work with will understand research on stuttering and what will most likely work for your child. Although roles may seem clear cut at first, in reality, they can be anything but.

Last post, I discussed what children will learn in first sessions in speech therapy. This week, we’ll learn the roles of each of the players and how to be involved in your child’s speech therapy sessions.

Speech Therapy: Roles

In speech therapy, there are roles and responsibilities for all involved. For example, a child’s responsibility would be to try their best in speech and do their speech homework. The SLP’s job is to design the sessions. The parent’s job includes communicating with the SLP about priorities for sessions as well as bringing children to speech on time. A further discussion of these roles is outlined below.

Roles – Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs)

Your SLP will design a speech therapy program for your child. Your SLP will also plan the specific objectives of specific sessions, as well as activities to target them. If you’d like to ask your SLP before starting therapy about her experience working with children who stutter, feel free to do so. You may want to ask how many clients your SLP has worked with in the past who stutter. In addition, you can ask if he/she has taken continuing education courses in this area. You may also want to ask and what sort of treatment strategies he/she uses to help children who stutter.

Remember your SLP has likely helped many children who stutter and has your child’s best interests at heart. If you have questions about what your SLP is doing and why, feel free to ask. Your SLP is responsible for designing a speech therapy program and tracking data. Whether your SLP works for a school or private clinic, he/she will need to document that the sessions are helping your child. That means taking data every session. When taking consistent data, your SLP can shift course when particular strategies aren’t working. In addition, your SLP can expand on the strategies that do help your child.

Roles – Client/Child

Children who are attending speech therapy sessions are expected to try their best. They may need to complete weekly speech therapy homework. Although everyone has bad days, ideally your child will have a positive attitude most days in speech therapy sessions.
Of course, your SLP will do what he/she can to ensure your child is having a good time. Speech therapy sessions are typically fun and engaging. This helps with motivation, And most children have a very positive attitude during sessions.

Roles – Parents

One of the best things you can do as a parent is to learn about stuttering yourself. I suggest starting with the stuttering foundation’s website.

I often suggest parents sit in on the first few sessions. That way, parents can see what happens in a typical session.

After those sessions, I suggest parents wait in the lobby during stuttering treatment. Again, keep in mind I’m talking about speech therapy for children ages 5 and older here. Preschool parents typically sit in for the entire session, since they work better that way.

If you have an older child, your child will need a chance to build rapport with your SLP. Also, children are oftentimes more honest and less self conscious when there are fewer people in the room. Having a parent in the room means there is an observer in the session. An observer is someone who is not participating but is watching the session. In most cases, having an observer in the room means slower progress (and some level of distraction) for children.

That said, it’s important that you as a parent know what is going on in each session. You will sit in on some sessions here and there. Also most sessions, there is time at the beginning or the end of the session to share what we’ve been working on. As a parent, you can learn what we discussed in speech therapy. You can also give your input. For example, you may share a sticky communication situation from the week. This may be a time when your child struggled with stuttering. This helps us determine situations to target. What is typically the most helpful feedback? Share what you noticed about your child’s communication that week.

Questions to Ask: Parents

Remember these are just general guidelines. Speech therapy for clients of different ages and needs looks very different. If you want to learn more about why your child is learning specific strategies, ask your SLP. Usually, open-ended questions are best for facilitating discussion. Some examples:

Why are we learning this skill?

How will this help improve my child’s communication skills?

How long will we work on this skill? 

What can I do outside of speech therapy sessions to support my child?

Speech Therapy: Homework and Communication

Your SLP may give your child homework. These activities are an excellent way to practice speech therapy skills at home. This is an excellent way to get hands-on practice targeting skills from speech sessions.

In addition, it’s likely that at the end of each session your SLP will review what was covered in speech. Often, sessions focus on repeated practice of 1-2 skills. This makes it easy to give an overview of the activities after each session.

Speech Therapy: Expectation versus Reality

There is no cure for stuttering. Therefore your child may have “bumpy speech” from time to time. Even so, by attending speech therapy, children often gain strategies for smoother speech and an increased awareness of what works best for them to improve their communication.

It is difficult to go into a new situation and not have some expectations. In that case, if you have ideas about what speech therapy will look like, you might have to check those at the therapy room door. Remember speech therapy may not be what you imagined.

Leave space for the fact that it might be different that you imagined. But that could mean just as good (just a little different), or even better.

Take time to build rapport and trust with your SLP. In addition, choose an SLP who has experience working with children who stutter.

Your child’s cheer squad now consists of you (and your family) and your SLP. We are here to help. We really do care about working with your child to increase communication skills. Let’s work together, and let’s get to work!