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using A Boy, A Dog, and A Frog in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/b/ initial (boy)
/fr/ initial (frog)
/d/ initial (dog)
/g/ final (dog)

Themes:

summer
pond
spring
wordless

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Early Childhood, Elementary, Late Elementary

A Boy, A Dog, and A Frog

By Mercer Mayer

A boy and his dog go walking in the swamp. They spot a frog in the water. Can they use a net to catch him?

This sweet wordless spring, summer and pond book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like wanting to play and being lonely. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting predicting and problem solving as well as for /b/, /fr/, /d/ and /g/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using A Boy, A Dog, and A Frog in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

wordless

Narrative Concepts:

problem solving​
sequencing
illustration study
inferencing
social/emotional
predicting
WH-questions (where)

Sequencing:

sequence of attempts to catch the frog that ultimately leads to frog finding the boy and the dog

Social/Emotional:

The boy and the frog try to catch the frog. They all become increasingly irritated as their plan doesn’t work and frog just wants to be left alone. When the boy and the dog give up and go back home, frog realizes that he misses their antics and follows them home to play! The boy and the dog are surprised when they find that frog followed them home.

Grammar:

WH-questions (where)
-Where is the frog? Where is the dog? Where is the boy?

Inferencing:

How do they feel when they see the frog?
How do they feel when they are falling?
What is the frog thinking when it sees them and as they fall in?
What do you think the boy is thinking when he is face to face with the frog?
What about when it hops away?
Why does the boy have his hands on his hips?
How does the boy feel about his plan?
How is frog feeling now?
How does frog feel when they start to leave?
How do they all feel at the end?

Predicting:

What do you think the boy and the dog will try to catch today?
How should they approach the frog if they don’t want it to hop away?
What do you think is going to happen when they start running?
What do you think the boy wants the dog to do?
What do you think the boy and the dog will do after their plan doesn’t work?
Where do you think they are going?
Where do you think frog is going?

Problem Solving:

The boy and the dog come with up a plan to catch the frog but things don’t go as planned.

If you are interested in using A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog and other pond- themed books in speech therapy, then check out these print-&-go cheat sheets. Perfect for when you don’t need a full book companion. 

If you are interested in seeing other spring and summer books to use in therapy, then check out the Seasonal Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.