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speech and language teaching concepts for Harry the Dirty Dog in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/h/ initial (Harry, home)
/r/ vocalic (Harry, dirty, dirtier, very, buried, garden, bark)
/r/ blends (scrubbing, brush, tricks, free)
/d/ initial
/g/ final
Themes:

pets
dog
non-seasonal
Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Early Childhood, Elementary
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Harry the Dirty Dog

By Gene Zion

Harry is a white dog with black spots who absolutely, positively hates to take a bath. After a day of adventure, Harry gets so dirty that he no longer looks like a white dog with black spots. Now he looks like a black dog with white spots!

This funny pet and dog-themed book can be used in speech therapy to target character analysis, predicting, and a variety of verbs. It is also great for inferencing and for targeting sounds including /h/, /r/ vocalic, /r/ blends, /d/ and /g/! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Harry the Dirty Dog in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode
Narrative Concepts:

problem solving
character analysis
sequencing
inferencing
predicting
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)
complex sentence structure
Sequencing:

order of events that leads Harry back home to be washed
Character Analysis:

Harry is a strong-willed dog who really doesn’t want a bath. Harry learns to appreciate his family after running away from home, and baths in the process!
Grammar:

verbs (action)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)
verbs (present progressive)
complex sentence structure
Text Features:

​ellipses
italics
Inferencing:

Why do you think he buried the scrubbing brush?
Why do you think he ran away from home?
How do you think his owner feels about him being missing?
Why do you think he is getting dirtier and dirtier?
How does he feel when he gets dirtier and dirtier and doesn’t have anyone telling him to stop?
What are the people thinking when they see him?
How did he change?
Why is Harry wondering about his family?
What will the kids think when they see this dog in the backyard?
What are they thinking when they see the dog running inside with the scrubbing brush?
How does Harry feel about getting a bath now?
How do the kids feel when they realize it’s him?
Predicting:

What do you think he will do with the scrubbing brush?
How do you think he will get dirty next?
Where do you think he will go next as he starts to wonder about his family?
Do you think they will know that the dog is Harry?
What could he do to show them it’s still him?
Why do you think he stopped?
Why do you think he is digging furiously?
What do you think he is digging up?
What do you think he will do next time he needs to take a bath?
Problem Solving:

After Harry hides a scrubbing brush and runs away from home, he starts to miss his family. When he comes back, Harry is so dirty that he is unrecognizable and comes up with a plan to help his family see that it is really him.