Shared Book Reading

Shared book reading is a literature based language intervention that has a strong evidence base.


I think literature based intervention is a terrific way of teaching students language and literacy skills.


Speech-language pathologists who use this method don't teach reading. Instead they focus on the underlying language that underpins all literacy.


That is,(text-based)intervention is based on current research, and is perhaps the best way forward in the treatment of school-age language disorders.


I use the shared book reading method often, and the benefits and the results I've had are very encouraging. What I like is that text-based intervention has a very strong contextual base.


This is important, because learning abstract language concepts within a familiar context helps to alleviate the problems associated with decontextualized language.


Shared book reading's primary goal is for a clinician to use a story book as a therapeutic tool to improve language knowledge and use.


This is done by using the text and illustrations in a picture book as the source of language stimulation. The language is extracted from the text and pictures in the story book.


The sheer number of language goals that can be gained from one passage in a well written children's book is quite amazing.


Class teachers are also more likely to follow up on the clinician's language goals and recommendations, because the text-based intervention tends to be a close fit with a student's overall academic goals.


Text-based language inervention tends to dispenses with 'cookbook' type therapy and its sometimes lack of direction.


Instead text-based intervention focuses language impairment in a coordinated and systematic way.


And it's fun. It's fun to use text-based intervention. The students mostly enjoy it too. That's because they get to think and learn about literacy and language in a new way that is interesting to them.