Books are a must-have resource in any therapy session. Whether you’re working with language delayed toddlers or preschoolers, or with school-aged children; including books in your speech therapy session is always beneficial because you can target so many goals.
If you have had to make the sudden move to delivering therapy/teaching via Teletherapy during this pandemic (if you’re reading this after Spring 2020, we are currently in the midst of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, so services/school lessons have been moved to online, distance learning instead), or if you are a full-time Teletherapist, it is useful to have a few “go-to” sites where you can access quality digital materials.
I wanted to share my favourite website for good quality, free eBooks that you can use in your Speech Therapy sessions or distance learning lessons.
Note: This blog post is in no way sponsored, endorsed by, or affiliated with Oxford Owl or Oxford University Press. All views expressed are my own.
Oxford Owl- My Favourite Free eBook Site
The Oxford Owl site is a fantastic source of engaging eBooks for you to use in your Teletherapy sessions or online lessons. The site is free for parents and teachers; you can sign up as an educator or as a parent. The School section comes with additional free professional development resources, additional activities, and more. But if you only want/need to use the books and access some additional activities, the parent site is perfect. The site is free to join and very easy to use (they all work on tablets, laptops, and computers, too!).
Huge Free eBook Library
The Oxford Owl site has a huge library of eBooks for children aged 3-11 years. You can search based on reading levels, age, or series. There is a massive range of non-fiction and fiction books, on loads of different themes; so you’re sure to find something that meets your student’s goals and interests!
Use the eBooks to Target Tonnes of Speech Therapy Goals
There is a huge range of books available (the range changes every-now-and-again), so you’re sure to find something that can be used to support your student’s goals. For example, the “Big, Bad, Bug” book from the Biff, Chip and Kipper series is perfect for students who are practising saying final consonant sounds at phrase or sentence level, or students who are fronting/backing.
You can also use the books to target sentence formulation, grammar, inferencing, pronouns, past tense verbs, and more!
Additional Activities Make Therapy Planning a Breeze
All of the eBooks come with two additional interactive activities that you can use after you have read the story. These provide another way for students to practise their goals, and are fun and easy homework activities.
Using Free eBooks in Teletherapy
You can use these books on tablets and computers, so if you’re delivering therapy via Teletherapy at present, you could screen share and read the books together.
Here are some ideas you could try:
- If you’re working on speech sounds, spend time looking at each page for things that contain the target sound. Make a list on a blank word document, or using the annotate features in the teletherapy platform you are using.
- If you’re working on language skills, get the student to practise their goals by talking about the pictures, e.g., use the correct pronouns, verb tense, or a suitable adjective. Ask wh-questions throughout the stories, to target a range of other goals.
- All of the books have additional activities and some have comprehension questions at the end too. Use these activities to further support practice of their goals. Tip: Read the books beforehand so you know which ones have the most suitable activities and target words.
I hope you have found it useful to hear more about my favourite website for free eBooks for Speech Therapy. If you’re wanting more eBooks to choose from, check out this list from Allison Fors.