The Reading Aloud Resource Book

This practical guide is the ideal tool for the busy practitioner or speech and language therapist to provide an effective, meaningful, and contextualised approach to language development using picture books. Drawing from up-to-date, evidence-based research, each chapter shows you how to get the most out of picture books to support language development, with a focus on the range of opportunities that reading aloud can bring. The guide offers a complete package to promote speech, language, and early literacy, and to enrich language comprehension, vocabulary, phonological awareness, and oral language - all by using books to provide a context for meaningful language learning. The resource also includes advice on how to develop intervention goals and outcome measures for reading aloud, with practical suggestions covering topics from creating a reading routine and book nooks, to encouraging reluctant readers and reading aloud challenges. Language skills are essential for academic, social and communication success and this reading aloud resource will be valuable reading for early year educators, primary teachers, and speech and language therapists working with young children aged 0-7.

Katie Walsh and Maria Bracken are Speech and Language Therapists and creators of Talking Buddies, a project to promote and foster language development in schools and communities. Together, they have almost 30 years' experience working with children with a wide range of communication difficulties.

1. Introduction 2. Benefits of picture books 3. How to use picture books to support language 4. Phonological awareness and strategies 5. How to choose a good book for language development 6. Picture books in education settings 7. Picture books in Speech and Language Therapy clinic 8. Book recommendations