The benefits of reading books are endless. Reading improves imagination, concentration, memory, attention span, speech and language. In addition to the many benefits, reading books is a fun and educational way to spend time with kids. I am always discovering more books that I am obsessed with and excited to use in therapy but I always have around 5 books that are my go-to. The list below are my top 5 for this fall!

My Top 5 Books:

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books! by Lucille Colandro
My clinical educator this past summer introduced me to these books and I loved them! There are many different ones so you can alter what you’re using by the season. For example, “There was an old lady who swallowed some snow” would be fun during the winter months and “There was an old lady who swallowed a bat” would be cute around Halloween. The “swallowed some books” one is perfect all year round but especially for the start of the school year. This book is a great choice for practicing /s/ since there is a repeating pattern of saying “swallow” 1-2 times per page.
Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow (find on amazon.com)
During my first clinical placement I would use this book during initial consults. I loved it so much my CE gifted it to me on my last day. The preschoolers loved this book because it is familiar, very silly, and you can sing it with gestures and they can join in. Therefore, this book is great for practicing gestures (e.g. shake your head no or shake your finger no), counting (e.g. “Five little monkeys”), and it also has the benefit of using song and rhyme which I posted a blog on the benefits of.
Somewhere in the Ocean by Jennifer Ward and T.J. Marsh (find on amazon.com)
This is my favourite book of all time! My CE also introduced me to this book in her clinic. It’s so cute, implements singing, numbers and counting and has a repetitive pattern so kids can learn it relatively quickly and join in. There are also other options like “Over in the Garden” however, being in Vancouver I like the ocean theme!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (find on amazon.com)
This book is a classic but never gets old for me. It is perfect for electing the plural -s. For example, you can say “He ate through one apple and TWO ____” and the child will chime in and if they are using plural -s they will say “pears!” You could also use a caterpillar puppet and pretend foods so there are visual props while reading the book.
Small Saul by Ashley Spires (find on amazon.com)
This book is perfect for eliciting /s/ and /sm/ s blends because every page has “Small Saul” so you can elicit /s/ by saying Small ____ and the child will likely start saying “Saul!”

Also, before buying books full price make sure to check out value village! I have found so many great, classic books there and they are only a dollar or two!

-S

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