Wordless picture books can be an incredible tool for speech therapy sessions, offering endless opportunities for language development. Without text, these books encourage students to focus on the illustrations and start creativity and conversation. Let’s explore how to use wordless picture books to boost language skills and engage young learners. Keep reading for tips and book recommendations to make your next session fun and effective!
Wordless Picture Books In Speech Therapy
Early in my SLP career, I did not get how powerful using wordless picture books in speech therapy could be. Thankfully, my collection has grown, and I now use them often! They offer freedom to a child and take the burden and intimidation of reading away. Additionally, the absence of text makes them accessible to a student of any ability. The reader gets to have their own imagination about what the story says. Students must know that reading pictures IS READING. So much of the story is often told through the images in a book. With wordless picture books, many kids will give you pushback. Why? Because they are so trained to read WORDS! Using wordless books in speech therapy is a critical part of literacy-based speech therapy. You can teach figurative language, vocabulary, sequencing, and more! Here are my favorite wordless picture books and a free printable list below!
What Does the Research Say?
One such way to build a child’s oral language skills is through the use of picture books (Sipe 2002).
Illustrations can provide children with visual cues in which to imagine story events, and infer what may happen next. When students read picture books with adults and peers, they are provided with the opportunity to acquire vocabulary and build oral language through story telling (Collins & Glover, 2015).
Wordless picture books have been found to be an exceptional way to accomplish these skills (Jalongo, Dragich, Conrad, & Zhang, 2002).
Children rely on their oral language ability to tell a story when they are not burdened with the task of decoding text (Collins & Glover, 2015).
Let me share with you my favorite wordless picture books for speech therapy and what language goals I use them for! Check your library to see if any of these are available. If you wish to add any to your library, I have included my affiliate links to Amazon.
Books for imagery, symbolism, comparing/contrasting, and inferring
Rosie’s Glasses – by Dave Whamond. In this wordless picture book, Rosie wakes up in a monochrome world with a dark cloud over her head. As she plods through her miserable, gray day, the cloud follows. Mishaps and mayhem thwart her every move, irritating noises assault her — and the pouring rain worsens everything. But then, on her way home from school, Rosie finds a pair of strange glasses. Her world transforms into vivid, joyful colors when she puts them on. Suddenly, she can see the beauty and fun in everything around her — and her dark cloud has disappeared. Are the glasses magic? Or could it be that changing how we look at the world can change how we experience it?
Great book for sequencing
GOODNIGHT GORILLA by Peggy Rathmann is a classic for a reason. It was a favorite when my two boys were little. There are a few words, but the illustrations tell the story. Hearing the giggles from kids acting this one out is fun and lets me know they are engaged!
Fun for facial expressions and inferencing
CHALK by Bill Thomson is fascinating. The illustrations are SO lifelike. The three children are in a park on a rainy day with sidewalk chalk. Everything they draw comes to life—the sun comes out, and a dinosaur, too! The kids’ facial expressions offer numerous inferencing opportunities. Also, check out Fossil and The Typewriter by the same author!
A BOY A DOG AND A FROG by Mercer Mayer: Another beloved author! I have so many of his books. This book is another excellent small-moment narrative. We’ve all had that moment of seeing a little creature that you creep up on, hoping to catch it! I love the first moment he sees the frog and stops to discuss what the boy is thinking! The facial expressions on the frog’s face lend to excellent discussions.
An excellent book for vocabulary
FLASHLIGHT by Lizi Boyd: an enchanting exploration of night, nature, and art with Flashlight. Both lyrical and humorous, this visual poem—like the flashlight beam itself—reveals there is magic in the darkness. We have to look for it.
Teach empathy and sharing
A BALL FOR DAISY by Chris Raschka is adorable. The cutest dog and her red ball. It’s heartbreaking when another bigger dog destroys her favorite red ball.
Remarkable for problem-solving and determination
PANCAKES FOR BREAKFAST by Tomie DePaola is another classic by one of my all-time favorite authors! #geteverybook. The little old lady wants to make pancakes and runs into issues each step of the way (somehow, I can relate to her!).
Fun while working on story elements
RAINSTORM by Barbara Lehman: I use several of this author’s wordless picture books. The illustrations in this book are ideal for anyone to begin telling a story easily.
Fantastic for predictions and plot
WOLF IN THE SNOW by Matthew Cordell is beautiful. The girl’s red coat is striking against the white snow. I love this for teaching character development and plot. I hesitate to call it a “scary” book, but the girl is lost in a snowstorm, and there is a pack of wolves.
Great for small-moment narratives
FLOAT by Daniel Miyares is a stunning and straightforward story about a boy on a rainy day who makes a paper boat. It gets away from him and is destroyed, and his emotions come through, but his father consoles him, and they make another. I find myself almost staring at the images, thinking about the moment.
This book includes directions for making a paper boat, which you can also use when working on character development.
Exciting for personification, predicting, and inferencing
PROFESSIONAL CROCODILE by Giovanna Zoboli is an illustrative treasure. It is an adorable book about a “day in the life” of a crocodile. As you read this, discuss daily routines; what can you infer about the location and time of year based on the transportation and buildings? Kids LOVE trying to figure out where he is going each day.
Helpful for onomatopoeia and character interpretation
RED SLED by Lita Judge is a fantastic short read. A perfect wintertime read, this book is about a bear who “borrows” a child’s red sled, goes for a joyride with his woodland friends, and returns it without the child knowing it.
If you have been intimidated by using wordless picture books in speech therapy, I hope this list helps excite you to use them more in your sessions! The pressure is off the student to tell the story with their creative imagination – encourage this freedom!
See this post if you’d like to know how I select books to use in therapy!
I know there are MANY more wordless picture book gems out there! Check out my entire list on Amazon. What are your favorites? How are you using them?
Here is a free printable list! Just enter your email, and I’ll send it directly!
Ashley