Bruno's Ball: Speech & Language Therapy Books: Positional Concepts (Speech and Language Books)

Go on an adventure with Bruno, the energetic puppy who chases his favorite red ball from his yard to the park and back home again. Create a fun and exciting dialogue with your child when you ask, "Where is Bruno's Ball?" Bruno’s Ball is meant to create a positive and encouraging dialogue between parent/caregiver and child in the following ways: Bruno’s Ball, designed for children ages 18 months to 6 years old, includes an interactive story dialogue, story vocabulary with supplemental tracking sheets, and positional concepts with supplemental tracking sheets for use as your child develops and grows their knowledge of vocabulary words and positional concepts. When the story text asks, “Where is Bruno’s ball?,” give your child time to look for and locate the red ball. Once your child identifies the ball’s location, e.g., pointing, labeling, responding, etc., continue with the story and respond by adding more language dialogue for your child to hear (i.e. “Yes!” There’s the red ball.” “It’s in the window!”). The textual framework is there to guide you through this interactive dialogue with your child.

This book is for children ages 18-months to 6-years-old, and Speech-Language Pathologists, Special Education Teachers, and General Education Teachers working with students on following directions and understanding vocabulary concepts and positional words. Don't forget to look for a secret password to unlock more adorable activities that go with "Bruno's Ball" for your children and students!

As always, toddlers and young children learn best through PLAY and ACTION. So continue the fun by embedding the thematic and language concepts from "Bruno's Ball" into your PLAY activities at home or in the classroom. Depending on your child's or student's communication skill level, you can have fun doing the following:

Toddler PLAY Activities related to "Bruno's Ball"
1. Make dog noises with your child and/or student (Woof, Ruff, Bow Wow, Huh-huh-huh, etc.)
2. Roll a ball back and forth with your toddler (say "ready, set, go" and roll the ball to one another on "go." See if your child or student can say "go" when you say, "ready, set, _____" after doing this a few times).
3. Hide the ball and see if your child or student looks for the ball in the place where it is hidden.
4. Hide the ball and act like you don't know where it is. Say, "Uh-Oh! Where is the ball?" and put your hands out to signal you don't know where it is, and exaggerate looking around for the ball. See if your child or student imitates you and begins looking for the ball and pointing to or vocalizing to tell you where the ball is located.

Preschool to Kindergarten+ Activities related to "Bruno's Ball"
1. Hide a ball in different places around the room and tell the child, "The ball is next to the table." See if they can find the ball based on your clues with embedded positional words.
2. Hide a ball in different places around the room and ask the child, "Where is the ball?" Have your child or student tell you where they found the ball (e.g., "Under the desk.").
3. Carryover these concepts into other activities to generalize the learning of positional words (e.g., Stand next to your peer partner, put your books under your desk, etc.). Increase to two-step directives+ with positional words once mastery of single-step directions is accomplished (Put your books under your desk and then stand next to your peer partner).