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using Here Comes Valentine Cat in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/v/ initial
/l/ medial
/k/ initial

Themes:

Valentine’s Day
kindness
friendship

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Elementary

Here Comes Valentine Cat

By Deborah Underwood

Cat does NOT like Valentine’s Day. It’s much too mushy, and no way is he making anyone a valentine—especially not his new neighbor, Dog. Dog refuses to respect the fence: He keeps tossing over old bones and hitting Cat in the head! But just as Cat’s about to send Dog an angry “valentine” telling him exactly what he can do with his bones, Dog throws a ball over the fence. What is Dog playing at? Cat is in for a hilarious—and heartwarming—surprise in this story about being perhaps too quick to judge.

This humorous Valentine’s Day book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like making assumptions about others, as well as friendship and kindness. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting predicting as well as for /v/ initial, /l/ medial and /k/ initial sounds. Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Here Comes Valentine Cat in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
character analysis
sequencing
illustration study
inferencing
social/emotional
predicting
text features

Sequencing:

order of events that leads to Cat and Dog being friends

Vocabulary:

zone, mushy, squid, goodness, neighbor, welcome, jumping to conclusions, mind, good grief

Character Analysis:

Cat thinks that Dog is being rude. Cat learns that first impressions aren’t always correct and to not assume the worst in others.

Social/Emotional:

facial expressions
body language
making assumptions about others

Text Features:

question marks
exclamation marks
speech bubbles
commas
italics

Inferencing:

How does Cat feel about making Valentines? How do you know?
How does Cat feel when Cat can’t think of anyone to make a Valentine for?
What is Cat thinking when Cat hears that loud sound?
How does Cat feel about the neighbor? What makes you think that?
How does Cat feel after Cat gets hit by the bone?
What does Cat think dog is trying to communicate to Cat by throwing the bones and ball over the fence?
What do you think Cat is trying to communicate with the picture of the bones?
What do you think Cat is trying to communicate with the picture of the dog growling?
How does Cat feel after reading the Valentine from Dog?

Predicting:

Why do you think Cat doesn’t like Valentines Day?
Who do you think Cat hears?
How do you think Cat will tell us who Cat hears?
What do you think Cat will do to get back at Dog?
What do you think the Valentine for Dog will say?
What do you think the Valentine for Cat will say?
What do you think Cat will do at the end?

If you are interested in seeing other Valentine’s Day books to use in therapy, then check out the Narrative Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.