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speech and language teaching concepts for If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/r/ vocalic (dinosaur, grinder, nutcracker, masher, burglar alarm, yard, garden, year, winter, summer, park, board, sharp, homework, sitter, work, carry, grocery cart, popcorn, bookmark, porcupine, saber-tooth)

Themes:

dinosaur
non-seasonal

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

If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur

By Linda Bailey

If you happen to have a dinosaur, lying around your living room, and you don’t know what to do with it…why don’t you use it as a can opener? It will make a terrific nutcracker too! There are oodles of uses for a dinosaur — from a fine umbrella to an excellent kite and a dandy pillow, not to mention a reliable burglar alarm and the perfect excuse to forget your homework. This delightfully absurd exploration of the domestic uses of dinosaurs — and the things dinos just aren’t good for at all — is guaranteed to tickle funny bones and spark imaginations. If you read carefully, you’ll learn how to make your dinosaur last a very long time.

This fun dinosaur book can be used in speech therapy to address describing. It is also great for noticing character expressions and illustrations and for targeting explanation of why questions as well as for vocalic /r/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

descriptive sequence

Narrative Concepts:

illustration study​
inferencing​
predicting​
adjectives​
verbs (action)
why questions
text features​

Vocabulary:

handy, suited, burglar, trim, park, shred, suited, study, wisely, dandy, bookmark, possibilities, treat,

Grammar:

adjectives
verbs (action)
why questions

Text Features:

ellipses
change in font
italics
capitals
parentheses

Inferencing:

How do the parents feel about the dinosaur?
Why would a dinosaur be a good can opener, coffee-grinder, alarm etc.?
What is used as a diving board?
What do you think happened to the homework?
What dinosaurs are not suited for a babysitter? Why?
What dinosaurs are not suited for a kite? Why?
What could go wrong with the dinosaurs helping?
Why is it a bad idea to ask a dinosaur to carry the picnic basket?
What could you do with the other animals?

Notice facial expressions when dinosaurs are not suited for the work.

Predicting:

What do you think a dinosaur would be good at?
How could they help at home?
How can a dinosaur help in any season?

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