“The Big Book of Exclamations” by Speech Pathologist, Teri K. Peterson and illustrated by Chris McAllister is a terrific book to help caregivers create interactive reading experiences with young children. Peterson has produced a book that promotes speech sound and language development including imitation of gestures, sounds, and words. The combination of prompts and engaging pictures offer parents and teachers an easy way to support speech-language development for infants and toddlers.
The point of the book is to interact with scenes rather than to read a story. Peterson explains, “along the bottom of each page you will find prompts, which show you how to act out the illustrations and interact with your child….” The book is comprised of a series of scenes that represent typical day to day activities starting with waking up and ending with bedtime. The breakfast scene has a picture of a grandmother blowing on hot coffee, a father dealing with an overflowing sink, a cat drinking spilled milk, and a mother talking to a baby who is gesturing for an apple.
ADDITIONAL POSITIVES:
– Caregivers can easily use the techniques they learned from “The Big Book of Exclamations” while they are reading other stories to children.
– Fun pictures and interactive design focus on holding busy toddlers’ attention. According to Peterson, “parents continue to talk to me about the challenges of keeping their child seated and attentive during story time.” “The Big Book of Exclamations” employs movement and interaction to help parents establish reading as an engaging activity.
– The book is written for parents, but can be easily utilized by any caregiver, pre-school educator, pre-prep teacher.
SUMMARY:
“The Big Book of Exclamations” is a resource that gives caregivers tools to facilitate speech-language development during reading activities. The prompts teach that books, stories, and pictures are enhanced by caregiver-child interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication about the story. Peterson effectively coaches caregivers how to encourage child participation, communication, and attention while sharing books with children.
You can purchase the book via Amazon here