Books for Non-verbal 4 year old

[Littlefrizz123]

Hello!

Hoping someone could help me. DS4 is mostly non-verbal but loves books. Could anyone suggest any simple books that we could read together that have a storyline but that also give us the opportunity to encourage speech?

We had a lot of success with the alphablocks series "c a t, Cat. This is a cat." and this led to him saying the word in context cat, dog etc. But he has no real awareness of concept words eg, sit, dig. So we haven't had success with other early reader books (not that we're worried about him reading anything yet!)

Baby books are perfect for clear simple pictures but he has no interest in them as they're pretty boring! Books that he enjoys such as the Gruffalo are great and he really enjoys them but he finds the illustrations too busy to focus on what we are pointing at and labelling.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help!

Dinosaur books?

Do you already have the hanen speech books eg it takes two to talk?

They are really good on how to encourage speech for children with delays (my dc was very similar)

How about Mr Men? They have simple but proper stories and the illustrations aren’t as detailed as things like the Gruffalo so there would be less distractions.

What about the Pip and Posy series? Same illustrator as the Gruffalo, but about a mouse and rabbit who do ordinary things (go to beach/have sleepover etc) There's a look and say one which might be good.

I’m wondering about whether you might find some of the advice in this post by a speech therapist useful as well:

teachmetotalk.com/2015/06/09/great-books-for-toddlers-with-speech-language-delays/

I know it focuses on toddlers but I like the first words book suggestion eg

Oh yes pip and posy such a good idea - my dc used to LOVE those including the look and say one

Is your dad under an SLT? Ours used to give advice on what books to use

Also You Choose, which doesn't have a story line as such but is amazing for language development.

Ds I meant - so sorry

My DS with speech issues loves we’re going on a bear hunt, peepo, each peach pear plum, ten little fingers and ten little toes. Rhyming ones and ones with lots of repetition are good.
Children’s centre family support team will be able to recommend some good ones for your child as will your speech therapist if you’ve managed to see one. We’re still waiting

What about the dinosaur roar series? My 4 & 2 year old both like those. The illustrations are various dinosaurs but not as “busy” as some books. Not really a story line but lots of scope for sounds and actions.

It’s all flooding back now what we used to do with our dc - we made a lot of use of this book and cd with action songs and dc loved that well into being 4 and 5

Sheena Roberts
Playsongs: Action Songs and Rhymes for Babies and Toddlers

It comes with a cd and is on Amazon

The book isn’t visually interesting but contains the words so you can sing along and eventually my dc learned some words from the cd

@Onceuponatimethen

He is under a SLT at school but we are struggling as he is a very different boy at home than at school which has led to her wanting a second assessment. We asked for suggestions but she is focused on very different goals. He had a private therapist over lockdown who was fabulous so I will send her an email and see what she suggests.

It takes two to talk sounds great, thank you! I'll take a look as I definitely need to educate myself on how I can encourage him outside of what we are doing at home.

There's a dragon in your book or There's a monster in your book by Tom Fletcher. They don't necessarily encourage speech but they are great for interaction eg 'blow' 'flap' 'shake'. Really fun books.

My boy is also a non verbal nearly 4 year old. He enjoys Emergency Emergency, Dear Zoo and A Very Hungry Caterpillar. He also likes a noisy Thomas book.

@Iloveyoucaterpillar That sounds exactly what I'm looking for thank you! Will order a couple as he does love the style of the Gruffalo drawings but he needs it to be really clear what the characters are actually doing so Pip and Posy sounds great!

@Adelino he is definitely more interested in being a part of things now so interactive books may be more successful than they would've been previously. I will take a look thank you!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I wasn't sure if I would get any responses so I'm so grateful all the advice! Will get to the bookstore first thing and stock up! It's been a tricky year for him and books have been one of the main things that has kept us connected so hopefully we'll be able to make some progress with some new texts x

When my son was 4. He loved father Christmas needs a wee. It came with a CD too.

How about Meg and Mog? Just for fun rather than language development but the pictures are very simple if that's what he prefers. All my ds loved them around that age.
Also Dear Zoo, Dear Santa etc have lovely clear pictures and lots of repetition which might help him to join in when he's ready.

The 'acorn wood' lift the flap books are also lovely and are illustrated by Axel Sheifler (sp?)
They are really nice, simple, rhyming text and my DD still likes to look at them at 4yo.

Not sure if this will fit the bill, but we have some Miffy books. They have lovely simple rhyming text and pictures.

Yes yes to acorn wood! Rabbits nap and foxs socks were great favourites with dc for a long time

What about Pip and Posy books by Axel Scheffler? They have really simple stories - my DD really liked these before she was speaking.

I was also going to suggest "you choose".

Apple Tree Farm might be a good one - it has a simple one sentence summary at the top of each page and a more detailed paragraph at the bottom. Like "farmer Jim came to help"
At the top and "poppy told sam to run and get farmer Jim at the farmhouse. They ran back together" at the bottom. The pictures are clear illustrations of the story and not busy.