1/12/2024 0 Comments Squish book 6Use your new squishy book to engage your students in a shared reading experience. Now that your book is created, the real fun begins. You can get a whole crafty lesson out of it! There are so many language concepts and core words to target while making the book – open up, put in, get more, add colors, find letters, close tight, tape together, this one, that one. Let them help pick the topic or theme of the book and the materials. When creating squishy books, consider making them with your students! We have found that students are typically more interested, proud, and invested in activities that they had a hand in creating. Minecraft Book: This is an example of a squishy book that capitalizes on a student-specific interest.Beach Book: We used different colored sand and put a variety of beach items on each page.Plant Growing Book: Each page represents the steps needed for plants to grow: seeds in dirt, sunshine, clouds, rain and a rainbow (because who doesn’t like rainbows?) and then finally, green plants.Cereal Book: A variety of different crunchy cereals were used to create a book around the topic of breakfast.You get the idea! And to step up your squishy book game, even more, try adding a title page and a back cover to really drive home the fact that a squishy book is just that – a book! If another student likes things that make noise, fill a book with little jingle bells, googly eyes, and bubble wrap. If one student really likes play-doh, make a book with a different color of play-doh in each bag. And what is great is that you can tailor it to the specific interests of your students. Pretty much anything you would use to create a sensory bin, sensory bottle, or a sensory bag can be turned into a squishy book. So now that you have the basics down on the squishy book let’s kick it up a notch! When creating squishy books, there are so many possibilities. We have used packing tape, duct tape, and binding rings to do this. Repeat – We like to create a book with 4-6 pages to really give it that feel of a book, so students can experience a front, a back, and turning pages.Add one letter (e.g., random or specific to material in the bag), or add multiple letters that spell a specific word (e.g., turn).Add in any fun extras (e.g., food coloring, glitter, or beads).We like wood, plastic, and foam letters.Fun Extras! Spice up your squishy materials by adding food coloring, glitter, or beads.Examples: hair gel, shredded paper, sand, lotion, gak, foam beads We suggest double bagging liquid materials. We have found quart-sized bags work well. Now that is an extremely basic description of a very creative and motivating activity, so let’s look at it in more detail! The concept is simple: plastic bags filled with a variety of squishy materials to create ‘pages’ that are attached together to create a ‘book’. So what is an AAC SLP to do? Our answer was to create sensory experience books that meet the literacy needs of our entire caseload!Ī squishy book is a book you make that capitalizes on the sensory interests of your students. However, finding appropriate books that are age-respectful, hands-on, and that address sensory interests can be difficult. Students with complex communication needs may demonstrate sensory-related interests and the desire to explore books physically. Students are typically more engaged and demonstrate increased participation during shared reading and writing activities when interacting with literacy materials that are motivating to them (Light, 2012). Especially activities that are age respectful and take into account the interests of our students. So we are always on the lookout for fun and functional activities that can target reading and writing skills for our students who use AAC. ![]() If you’ve done any reading or research around the topic of AAC and literacy, you know that students with complex communication needs do not typically get the same kinds of experiences with literacy activities as do their peers (Light & Kent-Walsh, 2003). Let’s hear how they make and use squishy books in their therapy sessions. ![]() You can see a previous guest post that Jeanna wrote here. They are AT/AAC facilitators and provide evaluations, direct therapy, consultations, and trainings with school teams. Maggie and Jeanna who work in the Assistive Technology Department for the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative (BASSC) in southern Illinois. Looking for a fun way to integrate more emergent literacy into your AAC work? You’re in the right place! Today, SLPs Maggie Judson and Jeanna Antrim share one of their many ideas for engaging therapy sessions.
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