Ages:1–5Grades:Infant–K

This set of seven board books provides a fun, convenient way to model early language skills. A developmental skill progression and engaging art work make it a choice tool for professionals and parents.

Much more than typical storybooks, these durable board books are an enjoyable way to interact with young children while simultaneously providing language and speech sound stimulation. The skills advance within each book and between the books, giving caregivers a teaching framework. The fun, vivid illustrations, character repetition, and carefully crafted text guide children to:

• expand early sound play into first-words
• use vocabulary that facilitates speech sound development and vice versa
• interact back and forth and communicate

TheEarly Imitation & Emerging Language Stories7-book set consists of:

• Gestural ImitationImitate simple gestures like clapping hands and pointing to body parts; stimulate back and forth interactions.
• Vocal ImitationBuild a repertoire of playful sounds like "wheee" and meaningful sound combinations like "uh-oh" and "pop, pop" to using words.
• First WordsPoint to and name common objects like ball, cup, dog, and shoe.
• Early Speech Sounds: CVCVDevelop early speech sounds and acquire functional vocabulary with repetitive syllable words like mama, dada, boo-boo, and no-no.
• Early Speech Sounds: CVTrain simple one-syllable words that begin with sounds that typically develop by three years of age (b, p, m, n, t, d, k, g, h, w).
• Early Speech Sounds: CVCProduce consonant sounds at the beginning and end of one-syllable words. The sounds are those that typically develop around three years of age (b, p, m, n, t, d, k, g, h, w). Pictures are presented in minimal pairs of CV and CVC words so children detect final consonant sounds (e.g., bow-boat, pea-peep).
• Two-Word PhrasesCombine familiar words and pictures to create short phrases such as "want cookie," "night-night baby," and "my ball," using common early vocabulary words.

COMPETE 7-Book Set:each board book 14, 5¼" x 6¼" coated pages. (©2012)