The Literacy-Based Speech Podcast

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We get a lot of questions regarding how to set up a therapy session that has a literacy-based approach. It can be intimidating just starting out or wanting to transition to this kind of approach. One of the first things you’ll need to do is build up your personal library. Don’t worry, we’ll share tips for getting inexpensive or free picture books! Additionally, we talk about tips for setting the tone using picture books during your therapy sessions.

It can take time to grow your personal library of picture books, so we’ve come up with creative ways to get you started. Whether these suggestions include your local library, using social media, various media sources, or the classic borrowing from a friend, it’s going to help get you comfortable using picture books in your sessions. 

If setting the tone using picture books is new to you, we also share how to make books a focus in your classroom, ways to make them interactive, and picking books they’re familiar with to engage them. These tips will for sure make your therapy sessions literacy-based in no time! 

Resources Mentioned:

• Half-Priced Books
• Thrift Books
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library - check availability in your zip code!
• Book Search Link
• Chalk, by Bill Thomson
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/setting-the-tone-using-picture-books

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In our speech therapy sessions, we like to choose books that help our students work toward their language goals. So we're continuing our "favorites" series with another round of picture books that helps with a popular articulation problem. With a lot of kids struggling with the R sound or R-blend words, we’ve compiled our favorite R picture books to share with you all!

For each of the R picture books we chose, we include a brief summary, its targeted audience, literacy skills to practice with your students, and the many benefits it offers your students. Along with working on a student’s goals, all the R picture books we share have high-frequency words throughout the story to ensure that your students have multiple opportunities to practice these word sounds. Make sure to check out our list for an academic and engaging reading during your literacy-based speech therapy sessions! 

Resources Mentioned:

• Free notes download - includes a list of the books we mention!
• Book Search for Speech Therapy
• Articulation Road Map for R Sounds
• R Book List Articulation Therapy  
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/R-picture-books

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In our speech therapy sessions we have students of all ages, so when we use a literacy-based approach, our older students can sometimes feel like picture books are too babyish for them. However, we know that research supports using picture books for oral language skills, which is what our students are in our sessions for. That's why we’ve come up with some ways to get older students using picture books in their speech therapy sessions. 

Throughout the episode, we highlight a variety of things to consider on how to get older students using picture books plus some helpful tricks if pushback occurs. Regardless of your approach to getting older students using picture books, remember it’s about having and showing respect for your students!

Resources Mentioned:

• Search for books for upper elementary or middle school students
• Themed Picture Books List Inventory for Speech Therapy 
• Using Wordless Picture Books in Speech Therapy 
• Speech Therapy Organization Book Bin Labels
• Enemy Pie, by Derek Munson
• The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson 
• A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/older-students-using-picture-books

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If you’re new to incorporating a literacy-based approach in your speech sessions, it can be overwhelming to figure out how to use picture books effectively. To help get you started or give you ideas, we’re doing a deep dive on two of our favorite books, Ribbit! and Dude! 

By going page by page through each book, we show you the process we go through when using the books during our speech sessions. We provide sample questions to ask, discussions to have, when to pause and have students reflect, and more. Both books also have themes that are relatable to kids in the classroom, school setting, and friend groups. By taking a deep dive into Ribbit! and Dude! your literacy-based speech sessions will be engaging and informative.

Resources Mentioned:

• Download the free Deep Dive Notes!
• Farm & Pond Narrative Notes
• Narrative Notes Bundle
• Ribbit! Blog Post
• Grab your copy of Ribbit!
• Dude! Blog Post
• Grab your copy of Dude!
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/deep-dive

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When using picture books during a literacy-based speech therapy session, you want to make sure that the book you choose is impactful and helps reach the goals of each of your students. However, determining which books to use out of your long list can be overwhelming and difficult. To help you make the best decision, we’re doing a this or that episode that compares the books There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell and Sharing a Shell.

Since we know that language goals can be solved through narratives, we want to make sure that the books we are choosing assist in that goal. We share a brief summary of each book, relatable concepts to discuss and activities to do during therapy sessions, and literacy skills you could potentially practice. Time is limited and you often work in groups during your sessions, so we want to find the right books that are most impactful for your students in our this or that episode. 

Resources Mentioned:

• Free Notes Download
• How to use There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell in speech therapy
• How to use Sharing a Shell in speech therapy
• Summer Themed Books
• Book Lists for Articulation: SH Words
• Seasonal Narrative Key Teaching Points
• Books with the -SH sound
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/this-or-that

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With summer quickly approaching, we’ve decided to combine our two favorite things in one episode: summer and picture books! Whether you’re gearing your students up for what’s to come during summer break or a parent who’s looking to keep literacy skills sharp while school’s not in session, we’ve compiled the perfect summer themed book list for you. In the first of our favorites series, we’re sharing our top 10 favorite summer books for speech therapy.

Each of the books we share are a complete episode, meaning they have a plan that includes action steps, how to solve the problem, and a resolution. We’re providing various topics and themes that could be discussed, literacy skills to practice, the target audience, and social emotional components to work with your students or children on. We’ve also included ways to incorporate crafts for storytelling or parallel story ideas. These books are fun, quick, and engaging, just in time for summer!

Resources Mentioned:

• Shop our Favorite Summer Books
• How to use A House for Hermit Crab in speech therapy
• Jabari Jumps, Gaia Cornwall
• Fireflies!, Julie Brinckloe
• A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, Chris Van Dusen
• Whoosh!, Chris Barton
• Pout Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark, Deborah Diesen
• The Camping Trip, Jennifer K. Mann
• Should I Share My Ice Cream?, Mo Willems
• Free Notes Download
• Summer Book Companions
• Book Search Link
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/summer-books

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You might know that you want to start incorporating literacy into your therapy sessions with students, but are struggling with what that would look like and how to do it effectively. We always want to give you the most accurate information and provide you with ways to best support your students through literacy. That’s why in today’s episode, we’re walking you through the steps we take on using a literacy-based speech therapy approach with one of our favorite books Doctor De Soto. 

To celebrate the launch of this podcast, we’re doing a giveaway! You can enter to win one of ten Amazon gift cards by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Before submitting your review, screenshot the episode and send it to us in a DM on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy or via email to [email protected]. The giveaway closes June 6, 2023.

Resources Mentioned:

• Professional Development Book List
• Doctor De Soto
• Doctor De Soto Book Companion
• Seasonal Book Companions
• Teaching for breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Learning from explicit and implicit instruction and the storybook texts
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/literacy-based-approach

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Being in the educational field, we know that the use of books and reading to children is an important part of their language development. And while the role of SLPs vary by school, district, and state, many want to use a literacy-based approach with their students. However, they feel they need to defend their reasoning for using them. 

With this research heavy episode, we share how literacy is a natural context for targeting specific language skills, improves communication, and benefits all students with whom you work with. Plus, we’ll identify various books to use that help practice different skills with repetitive texts. 

To celebrate the launch of this podcast, we’re doing a giveaway! You can enter to win one of ten Amazon gift cards by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Before submitting your review, screenshot the episode and send it to us in a DM on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy or via email to [email protected]. The giveaway closes June 6, 2023.

Resources Mentioned:

• School Age Language by Ukrainetz
• List of great books with repetitive texts
• Doctor De Soto, by William Steig
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show Notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/why-literacy-based

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Do you have a love of picture books? If so, then you’re in the right place. Welcome to the very first episode of The Literacy-Based Speech Podcast! We are your co-hosts and fellow SLPs, Ashley and Kalin. Inside this inaugural episode, we’re sharing about our backgrounds in speech therapy, our literacy-based approach, and how this podcast will help alleviate some of the overwhelm that comes with being an SLP. 

To celebrate the launch of this podcast, we’re doing a giveaway! You can enter to win one of ten Amazon gift cards by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Before submitting your review, screenshot the episode and send it to us in a DM on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy or via email to [email protected]. The giveaway closes June 6, 2023.

Resources Mentioned:

• Book Companions
• Narrative Notes
• Seasonal Key Teaching Points
• Selecting the BEST Books for Speech Therapy
• Book Search for Speech Therapy
• School-Age Language Intervention: Evidence-Based Practices, Teresa Ukrainetz 
• Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy.
• Write your review on Apple Podcasts!

Show notes: https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/podcast/literacy-based-speech-podcast

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Welcome to The Literacy-Based Speech Podcast! We are Speech-Language Pathologists and your hosts, Ashley and Kalin.

We’ve created this podcast to help show you how to best incorporate picture books into your therapy sessions. Our strategies are evidence-based so you can feel confident in the information that we’ll share!

You can look forward to a new episode each and every Tuesday. Be sure to follow or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so that you never miss an episode.

Follow us on Instagram @literacybasedspeechtherapy. We would love to hear your questions or comments after listening!

For more helpful resources, head to https://sweetsouthernspeech.com/.