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speech and language teaching concepts for Scaredy Cat Splat in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/sk/ initial
/spl/ initial
/r/ medial
/air/ medial

Themes:

Halloween

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

Scaredy-Cat, Splat!

By Rob Scotton

The fun of Splat the Cat continues in New York Times bestselling author-artist Rob Scotton’s paper-over-board edition of Scaredy-Cat, Splat! It’s Halloween, and Splat is determined to be the scariest cat in the class. Unfortunately, he’s just too much of a scaredy-cat. He’s afraid of a little spider, and everyone says his costume looks more silly than scary. And when Mrs. Wimpydimple tells a ghost story in the dark, Splat gets so frightened that he tips over his jack-o’-lantern. But when the lights go back on, the entire class is scared silly by a small, black, furry creature with a big pumpkin head. Whooooo can it be?

This funny Halloween book can be used in speech therapy for noticing character expressions and for targeting /sp/ and /sk/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Scaredy-Cat, Splat in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

problem-solving
character analysis
text features
illustration study
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (linguistic)

Vocabulary:

wobbled, astride, console, heap, trembled, shrieking, startled, fright

Character Analysis:

Splat really wanted to win the school Halloween contest.
He felt that Spike and Plank had scarier costumes than his and after being scared by their costumes felt sad and frustrated.
His pumpkin made everyone laugh instead of making them scared making him sad and frustrated again.
*notice how the illustrator showed Splat’s varying emotions throughout the book.

Grammar:

verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (linguistic)

Text Features:

large bold font for emphasis
dialogue
ellipses

Inferencing:

Why did everyone laugh at Splat’s jack-o-lantern instead of being scared?

Predicting:

In Mrs. Wimpydimple’s story, what might be in the dark, dark box?

Problem Solving:

Splat wants to win the prize for scariest costume, but his broom breaks, later his classmates laugh when he acts scary, and then they laugh at his jack o’lantern. Finally, Splat accidentally scares his classmates when his jack o/lantern lands on his head and then he wins the prize.

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

If you are interested in using Scaredy-Cat, Splat! and other Halloween- themed books in speech therapy, then check out these print-&-go cheat sheets. Perfect for when you don’t need a full book companion.