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speech and language teaching concepts for Stellaluna in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/st/ initial
/l/ medial
/b/ initial
/er/ medial

Themes:

bats
self-discovery
friendship

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

Stellaluna

By Janell Cannon

Knocked from her mother’s safe embrace by an attacking owl, Stellaluna lands headfirst in a bird’s nest. This adorable baby fruit bat’s world is literally turned upside down when she is adopted by the occupants of the nest and adapts to their peculiar bird habits. Two pages of notes at the end of the story provide factual information about bats.

This sweet bats book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues having friends of all shapes and sizes. It is also great for problem solving, character analysis, figurative language, sequencing and for describing! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Stellaluna in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode​

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary​
theme/message
problem solving​
character analysis​
sequencing​
illustration study​
inferencing​
figurative language​
social/emotional​
predicting​
adjectives
verbs (linguistic)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)
verbs (present progressive)
complex sentence structure
compare/contrast
text features​
phonological awareness

Sequencing:

order of events that leads Stellaluna to the birds and back home

Vocabulary:

sultry, crooned, clutched, dodging, shrieking, clambered, bear, obey, anxious, perch

Character Analysis:

When Stellaluna gets swept away from home, she learns to adapt to her new lifestyle with the birds by acting like them. One day on an adventure flying, she meets a bat who tries to set her straight in her bat ways, though Stellaluna feels confused about hanging upside down and doing bat things. Nonetheless, with the help of her mother she learns how to be a bat and with the help of her friends learns that friends can be and feel different but also very alike.

Social/Emotional:

Stellaluna learns that friends can come in all shapes and sizes.

Figurative Language:

similes (as limp and useless as wet paper)
onomatopoeias (flump, plop)
imagery

Grammar:

adjectives
verbs (linguistic)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)
verbs (present progressive)
complex sentence structure
compare/contrast

Text Features:

italics
dialogue

Phonological Awareness:

multisyllabic words (Stellaluna)

Inferencing:

Why do you think Mother Bat carried Stellaluna wherever she went?
How do you think Mother Bat and Stellaluna felt when the Owl attacked?
What did the baby birds think when they heard Stellaluna?
Why did Pip shush the others?
Why do you think Stellaluna was hesitant about the crawly things Mama Bird brought?
What did Mama Bird think about Stellaluna?
How do you think flying will be different for Stellaluna?
Why do you think Stellaluna wanted to tell the birds about the other bats?

Predicting:

What do you think will happen to Stellaluna?
What do you think the Mama Bird will do when she sees Stellaluna?
What do you think Stellaluna will do while she’s with the birds?
What do you think will happen when the birds leave Stellaluna?
Who do you think Stellaluna might find with the other bats?
What do you think will happen when they go out at night?

Problem Solving:

When Stellaluna gets attacked by an owl, she has to learn to adapt to her new surroundings.

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