Issue 31, Pages 6-7: Sharing books, supporting SLCN

One question that therapists are asked frequently is what books are best for supporting children’s development, both typically developing and those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

Looking at books – any books – as an activity itself is a lovely way to develop communication skills. It is beneficial to sit opposite the child rather than next to them, as it is naturally much easier for them to glance towards your face. It may be advisable to choose a word-light book unless you are especially proficient in reading upside-down! There are a range of wordless (or very word-light) books at different levels. Books like Mr Wuffles! (Wiesner, 2013) and Journey (Becker, 2013) capture imaginations of all ages by using no or minimal words, allowing children to share their own ideas about the narrative.

Books are a good opportunity to follow the child’s interest. They may prefer to choose a non-fiction book or a book that is an easier read. Like any other child-led activity, it is important to respect their choice and use this as an opportunity to support their spoken language (rather than targeting reading skills) while enjoying the activity with them. Books that might seem too easy still have lots of value. With the emphasis on shared enjoyment, rather than sitting and listening, children are more likely to add their own comments and ideas.

Thinking about language development specifically, it is such a wide area, ranging from early verbs and simple sentences, up to complex grammar and more technical vocabulary. For example, Where’s Spot? (Hill, 1980) is a great book for early prepositions. You could also bring out a toy dog and see if the child can also hide it in/under/ behind items, following the pages of the book. A non-fiction book such as Millennium Children of Britain Just Like Me (Kindersley and Kindersley, 1999) could be a lovely support for a range of question words—discussing concepts such as same and different, or even introducing more complex command words such as compare.

When reading any book with a child, you may also want to make comments rather than prescriptively reading the text. This will still give the child examples of vocabulary, grammar, or, depending on your child/the book, could support the development of their inferencing skills. Comments like “I’ve noticed…” or “I think…” provide opportunities without pressure for the child to speak.

Finally, we can think about books and speech sounds. Supporting phonological awareness through stories is incredibly fun, any books that encourage playing with sounds and words are enjoyable both for the reader and the listener. Dr Seuss’s books (e.g., There’s a Wocket in My Pocket) often use non-words, encouraging children to listen to the rhyme of the word rather than worry about the spelling.

One of the earliest steps in supporting the development of a specific speech sound is giving the child plenty of opportunity to hear the sound being used repeatedly. One easy way is simply finding a story, or a poem, that contains plenty of examples of the sound. For example, I’m Going to Eat This Ant (Naylor-Ballesteros, 2017) has an anteater listing all the ways he might eat an ant, all beginning with “s”. Reading something enjoyable to a child is much more likely to hold their interest than trying to shoehorn target words into conversation.

Research tells us that oral language skills correlate with reading ability (see e.g., (1) Snowling et. al., 2020), and so children with SLCN, including DLD, will benefit from spoken language intervention as part of a multimodal approach to supporting their reading (see e.g., (2) Lam et. al., 2024). Regular book sharing opportunities provide the space and time for these children to boost their reading as well as their language skills.

Over the next few issues, our therapists will share some of their favourite books for supporting speech and language development. Hopefully there will be some familiar reads as well as undiscovered treasures!

References:

(1) Snowling, M.J., Hayiou-Thomas, M.E., Nash, H.M. and Hulme, C. (2020), Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder: comorbid disorders with distinct effects on reading comprehension. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61: 672-680. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13140

(2) Lam, J.H.Y., Leachman, M.A. and Pratt, A.S. (2024), A systematic review of factors that impact reading comprehension in children with developmental language disorders. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 149: 104731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104731.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Becker, A. (2013). Journey. Candlewick Press

Hill, E. (1980). Where’s Spot? Heinemann Kindersley, B. and Kindersley, A. (1999) Millennium Children of Britain Just Like Me. Dorling Kindersley

Naylor-Ballesteros, C. (2017). I’m Going to Eat This Ant. Bloomsbury Publishing

Seuss, Dr. (1974). There’s a Wocket in my Pocket! Random House

Wiesner, D. (2013). Mr. Wuffles! Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt