Books that target speech sounds

My preschoolers loved this book! (Cookie's Week By: Cindy Ward) I used it to target the /k/ sound. It also is really good for sequencing. On Monday, Cookie fell in the toilet. On Tuesday, he tipped over the plant and tracked dirt throughout the house. On Wednesday, he got into the garbage, etc. (I think they love it because Cookie is so naughty!) The good thing about books that target certain sounds is that you can bombard your child with the correct production without them being aware that you are secretly performing speech therapy. They are lost in the book while you have a goal in mind. Here is a list of books compiled by:

Harriett Hoeprich, M.S., CCC 1995, Weston Public Schools, Weston CT

K SOUND THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle
CROSS COUNTRY CAT by Mary Calhoun
CAPS FOR SALE by Esphyr Slobodkina
CATS AND CANARY by Michael Foreman
CAN I KEEP HIM by Steven Kellogg
CORDUROY by Don Freeman
MILLIONS OF CATS by Wanda Gag

D SOUND A DARK, DARK TALE by Ruth Brown
HAVE YOU SEEN MY DUCKLING? by Nancy Tafuri
MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS by Robert McCloskey

P SOUND EACH PEACH, PEAR, PLUM by Janet and Allen Ahlberg
HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON by Crockett Johnson
PAT THE BUNNY by Dorothy Kunhardt
THE PIG'S WEDDING by Helen Heine
POPPY THE PANDA by Dick Gackenbach

F SOUND FAMILY by Helen Oxenbury
FEELINGS by Aliki
FINDERS KEEPERS by Will and Nicholas Mordvinoff
A FARMER'S ALPHABET by Mary Axariun
THE FOOT BOOK by Dr. Seuss
THE FOOLISH FROG by Pete and Charles Seeger
FIVE LITTLE FOXES AND THE SNOW by Tony Johnston
ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH by Dr. Seuss
FIX-IT by David McPhail
GONE FISHING by Earlene Long
THE LITTLE FUR FAMILY by Margaret Wise Brown

M SOUND MOON MAN by Tomi Ungerer
MAMA DON'T ALLOW by Thatchur Hurd
MADELINE by Ludwig Bemelmans
MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB by Mary Josepha Hale
MAX'S FIRST WORD by Rosemary Wells
MITCHELL IS MOVING by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

G SOUND GOOD MORNING, CHICK by Mirra Ginsburg
GOOD-BYE HOUSE by Frank Asch
GONE FISHING by Earlene Long
GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown
I GO WITH MY FAMILY TO GRANDMA'S by Riki Levinson

H SOUND THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by many different authors
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOON by Frank Asch
HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON by Crockett Johnson
HIPPOS GO BERSERK by Sandra Boynton
HOLES AND PEEKS by Ann Jonas
HOW DO I PUT IT ON? by Shrego Watanabe
HUSH LITTLE BABY by Jeanette Winter

B SOUND I AM A BUNNY by Ole Risom
HUSH LITTLE BABY by Jeanette Winter
PAT THE BUNNY by Dorothy Kunhardt
THE RUNAWAY BUNNY by Margaret Wise Brown

L SOUND I KNOW AN OLD LADY by Nadine Bernard Wescott
I LOVE MY BABY SISTER by Elaine Edelman
A LION FOR LEWIS by Rosemary Wells
THE LITTLE DUCK by Judy Dunn
THE LITTLE PUPPY, THE LITTLE LAMB, THE LITTLE KITTEN, ETC. by Judy Dunn
THE LADY AND THE SPIDER by Faith McNulty
THE LITTLE FUR FAMILY by Margaret Wise Brown
LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE by Bernard Waber

SH SOUND HUSH LITTLE BABY by Jeanette Winter
ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH by Dr. Seuss
SHEEP IN A JEEP by Nancy Shaw
SHEEP IN A SHOP by Nancy Shaw
SHHHH! by Suzy Kline
SHHHHH...BANG by Margaret Wise Brown
SHINE, SUN! by Carol Greene

TH SOUND THE THANK YOU BOOK, by Francoise Seignobuse
THINGS I HATE by Harriett Wittels
THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD by Wally Piper
AND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET by Dr. Seuss
TEETH by Michael Ricketts
THANK YOU by Edith Flack Ackley
THUNDERSTORM by Mary Szilagyi
THUMP AND PLUNK by Janice May Udry
THE THINKING BOOK by Sandol Stoddard
THE THINKING PLACE by Barbara Joosse
THIS AND THAT AND THUS AND SO by Evaline Nuss
THIDWICK, THE BIG-HEARTED MOOSE by Dr. Seuss
THREE BY THE SEA by Edward Marshall

R SOUND ROSIE'S WALK by Pat Hutchins
ROTTEN RALPH by Jack Gantos
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD by the Brothers Grimm

S SOUND SWIMMY by Leo Lionni
BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR by Bill Martin
SEE AND SAY by Antonio Frasconi
THE SEAL MOTHER by Mordicai Berestein
SEARCH FOR SAM by Neil Morris
SEEN ANY CATS? by Frank Modell
SEEDS by Terry Jennings

T SOUND THE TEENY-TINY WOMAN by Paul Galdone
TEN, NINE, EIGHT by Molly Bang
TOUCH! TOUCH! by Riki Levinson
TEENY TINY by Jill Bennett
TASTING by Richard Allington
TAN TAN'S HAT by Kazuo Iwamura
TICKLE TICKLE by Helen Oxenbury
TIGER CAT by Slawomir Wolski
TIC, TAC AND TOE by Bruno Munari

FINAL CONSONANTS LOUIS THE FISH by Arthur Yorinks
THE LITTLE DUCK by Judy Dunn
MOON MAN by Tomi Ungerer
PERFECT THE PIG by Susan Jeschke
THE CAT IN THE HAT by Dr. Seuss
ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH by Dr. Seuss
CROSS COUNTRY CAT by Mary Calhoun
CAN I KEEP HIM? by Steven Kellogg
A DARK, DARK TALE by Ruth Brown
THE FOOT BOOK by Dr. Seuss
GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOON by Frank Asch
OLD MACDONALD HAD A FARM Several versions available
HOP ON POP by Dr. Seuss
TEETH by Michael Ricketts
TIC, TAC, AND TOE by Bruno Munari

You will probably come up with many more of your own favorites! Feel free to share them in the comments! :)

The importance of good hearing

This graph by Oticon is called the Speech Banana. The left side of the graph shows how loud things are in decibels (dB.) The bottom shows the frequency of sounds. Our normal hearing detection is around 0-10 dB HL, some people even lower. (-5 dB!) Whispering is about 20 dB HL and average conversational speech is about 40 dB HL. If a child has multiple ear infections and is only detecting sound at 20 dB HL, then they are missing the speech sounds in that range and hearing the speech sounds of conversational speech as only a whisper (basically.) You can understand why speech and language problems are impacted when your little one's ears are full. If your child has had multiple ear infections and you feel they are delayed in their speech or language skills, visit your pediatrician or ask for an ENT referral. Don't settle for the "They will grow out of it! Wait until Kindergarten!" The earlier the intervention, the better the outcome!

Speech and Language Pinwheels

These were inspired by Jenna Rayburn of http://speechroomnews.blogspot.com/ Any time the directions come from someone/something other than me, I love it! On the tabs that didn't have a direction, I put a sticker. If they land on the sticker, they are allowed to assign their turn to someone else. I downloaded the petals from her site. Thanks for sharing, Jenna!

Reading with Language Concepts in mind

I adore this book! It's an oldie, but goodie!

The kids learn prepositions, colors, numbers, etc. Their greatest love comes in being able to predict and read the book themselves. Once they see the pattern, I leave words out as we read and they are thrilled that they can "read" too! Most likely, your child will beg you to read it again. Repetition is wonderful and even though you may want to gouge your own eyes out, read it again and again. Each time, leave a few more words out for them to fill in. :)

The Pigeon series of books are hilarious! No child I have encountered can sit quietly through these books.

I used this particular book (The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog) to emphasize pronouns.

I have several preschoolers this year that use the word "My" for "I" when they are talking (i.e.: "My want one!") This book allowed me to emphasize the difference between the two while reading. They didn't know that I was bombarding them with correct pronoun usage! :) Give 'em a try! My 5 year old and her classmates LOVE these books and I love hearing their dialogue and laughter.