Bringing The Benefit of Reading Home

Rachel Frady, MS, CCC-SLP

As a speech-language pathologist (SLP), I frequently recommend books as one of the most powerful tools caregivers can use to help develop children’s language and social skills. Why? Simply put, the benefits of reading for children are endless. Reading supports language production and comprehension and plays a key role in developing social-emotional skills like identifying and understanding emotions, perspective-taking, and problem-solving! 

So, how can you bring the benefits of reading home?

Read Aloud to Your Child 

Take a break from screens and grab a good book! Reading aloud to children has a profound impact on child development, offering benefits for cognitive, language, and social-emotional growth. Read-alouds expose children of all ages to new vocabulary, sentence structures, and language concepts they may not encounter in everyday conversations. 

Make It Interactive

To maximize the benefits of reading, make it interactive! Ask open-ended questions and connect the story to your child’s own experiences. Use different voices and inflections to bring the story to life. Your tone of voice and expression are key in highlighting important words and emotions. Prompt children to think deeply by asking questions like, “How do you think that character feels?”. Encourage them to look at facial expressions and clues in the story to make inferences. Most importantly, make read-alouds a special time to connect with your child! 

My Go-To Books 

1. A Little Spot of Emotions series by Diane Alber: This series follows a little spot who teaches children how to identify and understand their emotions by becoming emotion detectives. These books (and book companion stuffed spots) support emotion identification, expression, and management through colorful “spot” characters that correspond to different feelings. 
2. The Abilities in Me series by Gemma Keir: This collection of 21 non-profit books is designed to educate and celebrate abilities within disabilities and provide an opportunity for families to learn about different diagnoses, such as Autism, ADHD, speech delay, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, sensory processing disorder, ARFID, and many others. There is even a book for siblings of complex learners! 
3. The Ninja Series by Mary Nhin: These books teach children emotional and social skills through the adventures of a young ninja. Titles like Listening Ninja, Impulsive Ninja, Respectful Ninja, Focused Ninja, or Patient Ninja help children learn valuable life skills in a fun, relatable way.
4. Wordless Picture Books: Books like Tuesday by David Wiesner, Journey by Aaron Becker, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola, or Flashlight by Lizi Boyd, are versatile tools for exploring language. With only illustrations to go on, children are encouraged to use their imagination to create their own stories, make inferences, and solve problems. 
5. What Should Danny Do? by Adir Levy: This interactive book allows children to make decisions for the main character, Danny, at different points in the story. It teaches kids to think critically about their choices and understand how their actions can shape outcomes.
6. The How to Catch a … series by Adam Wallace: This series follows children who set up traps to catch various creatures like dinosaurs, unicorns, mermaids, and yetis. The predictable structure of these books helps develop sequencing, problem-solving, comparing/contrasting, and cognitive flexibility. 
7. The There Was an Old Lady series by Lucille Colandro: This whimsical series features an old lady who swallows increasingly ridiculous things. The repetitive structure and rhyme are great for supporting language development, phonological awareness, and sequencing while keeping children entertained with humor. 
8. The Pigeon Series by Mo Willems: With playful dialogue, these books are perfect for encouraging conversational skills and teaching kids how to express their thoughts and emotions.  
9. Press Here, Mix It Up, and Let’s Play by Herve Tullet: Interactive and engaging, these books target following directions and understanding cause and effect while teaching basic concepts like colors, shapes, numbers, and spatial relationships.
10. For More Developed Readers: I recommend Wonder by R.J. Palacio, The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, and Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, as they explore more advanced themes such as empathy, friendships, and resilience. 

Books are a gold standard in every SLP’s therapy materials! They provide a structured framework for language learning and opportunities for emotional connection. By being intentional in choosing stories that engage children emotionally and intellectually, we can help foster their linguistic development and social-emotional growth. 

New books don’t have to be expensive! Visit your local library or search for read-alouds on YouTube.

Happy reading! 

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