Sammy Goes to Speech
Sammy Goes to Speech
Do you have a child that needs speech and language services? Is your child in speech therapy now?
Check out Sammy Goes to Speech! This book written by speech language pathologist, Marissa Siegel illustrated by Kat Taylor is a valuable and resourceful book to read with your child who is either starting speech or is in speech therapy. It can also be helpful for siblings to help understand why their brother/sister may be receiving speech language therapy.
The main character in the book, Sammy really wants to talk but he can’t find his voice! Sammy and his mother look all over for his voice but can’t find it anywhere! When he meets his speech language pathologist, Miss Hunter she shows him how to find his voice. At the end of the book, Sammy is no longer upset because he is able to communicate much better now with all of the help that he received from Miss Hunter. “Now I say what I want and I say what I see. I say no no no and I say I’m three!”
Tips for Parents
It’s hard for parents to help a child understand why their speech and language skills aren’t developing. As a child reaches the age of preschool and enters into their mid-late preschool years, it can be isolating for both a child and a parent with limited speech. As a speech language pathologist that works with children that have limited speech, I see first hand how this affects children and their family. Marissa gives excellent tips in the back of the book for parents who are concerned about their child’s speech. She also includes activities to help develop your child’s communication skills.
For a sneak peak of the book, visit Marissa’s website here!
To find carryover materials for Sammy Goes to Speech, visit Marissa’s TPT store here.
Interview with Marissa
I am excited to present with interview with author and speech language pathologist, Marissa Siegel. Thank you Marissa!
What inspired you to write this book?
I was inspired to write this book by my own experience as an SLP. Having worked with many families with young children, my empathy has grown immensely. Being part of their lives on a regular basis has been a joy, experiencing many speech and language milestones along with these families. It also made me realize how few accessible resources there are out there for families just entering the world of speech therapy. Many parents are unsure of what therapy will look like. This book is a brief, child-friendly way to get the whole family ready for speech therapy, as well as jump start some language-enhancing activities at home.
I love your activity suggestions at the end of the book. Can you describe one activity that parents can do at home to help facilitate speech?
One great activity idea that I’ve started to do already with my own daughter is to create “conversations” with the speech and language skills your child already has. This will increase their motivation to communicate and help your child learn the rules of conversation. For example, my one and a half month old daughter grunts and coos, as well as looks in my eyes. When she looks at me and makes a noise, I wait for her to finish and make the same noise back or smile and talk about what she’s looking at. We can do this back and forth at any time of day. It is a fun bonding activity and can make for some fun interactions! This is an easy, simple one to encourage more vocalizations, especially for very young children and children working on increasing their communicative attempts.
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