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using a squash and a squeeze in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/skw/ initial
/sh/ initial and final
/pl/ initial
/z/ final
/h/ initial
/s/ initial
/ld/ final
/m/ initial
Themes:

being thankful for what you have
farm
Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Early Childhood, Elementary
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A Squash and a Squeeze

By Julia Donaldson

Wise old man, won’t you help me, please? My house is a squash and squeeze. A little old lady lives all by herself in her house but she’s not happy – it’s just too small, even for one. Whatever can she do? The wise old man knows: bring in a flappy, scratchy, greedy, noisy crowd of farmyard animals. When she pushes them all out again, she’ll be amazed at how big her house feels! The brilliantly funny A Squash and a Squeeze was the first ever picture book written and illustrated by the unparalleled picture-book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo.

This cute farm-themed book can be used in speech therapy to address predicting and sequencing. It is also great for using the repetitive text to target numerous speech sounds, such as /skw/, /sh/, and /z/. Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using A Squash and a Squeeze in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode
Narrative Concepts:

synonyms
antonyms
vocabulary
sequencing
problem solving
prepositional phrases
adjectives
phonological awareness
repetitive text
Sequencing:

order of what the wise old man tells the old lady to try to help her house not feel tiny
order of what the old lady did to make more room in her house
Vocabulary:

wise, jug, poky, grumble, grouse, curious, plan, trod, nibble, pecks, fleas, raiding, chasing, implore, charged, jig
Grammar:

synonyms for small (tiny, titchy, poky, teeny, weeny, a squash and a squeeze) and for big (enormous, gigantic)
antonym for small (enormous, gigantic)
prepositional phrases
adjectives
Text Features:

repetitive text
Phonological Awareness:

rhyming
alliterations
Predicting:

What do you think the wise old man will tell her to do?
What do you think the _______ will do inside of her house?
Do you think she will like having a _________ in her house?
How do you think she will feel now that all of the animals are out of her house?
Problem Solving:

The old lady was not happy with the size of her house. She felt like it was too small, so she asked the wise old man for help. She later discovers that her house is the perfect size.

If you are interested in using A Squash and a Squeeze and other farm- 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 farm books to use in therapy, then check out the Themed Key Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.