The Show Jo Language Development Series has released the first two books by Speech and Language therapist Charlie Buckley. Jo is a stuffed brown bear that looks very similar to "teddy" that we have in our household. The boardbooks consist of sixteen colorful pages with real photos of the task to be performed, outlined in three steps.

Each boardbook consists of sixteen colorful pages with real photos depicting the simple steps needed to perform the tasks. Pictures of the "silly old bear" getting mixed up doing these tasks help emphasize the correct way and order to follow the routines in these everyday tasks.



The books begin with a note to parents and professionals with tips on how to engage the reader and focus on the key words and simple sentences. There are two sets of colored sentence boxes on the pages to the right. The top box repeats ideas and key words while the second sentence offers a question to ask the child about each task.

The books can work at any level the child is at and emphasizes repetition throughout the pages. The pages of the books are green, purple and blue. There is even a purple paw placed on each right page as a reminder to wait or pause. Parents, teachers and professionals are encouraged to be animated and take turns with the child/student and see if they want to read or finish a sentence. For older children you can ask them if they noticed something familiar on all right pages and see how observant they are to spot the purple paws!




My son Nicholas is high functioning and almost done with fifth grade and really enjoyed these books. He laughed seeing Jo carrying several pieces of bread and another time putting jelly on his sneaker! According to Nicholas it is hilarious and adorable step through step.

This learning process encourages language skills for children with special needs and those on the autism spectrum. The author has worked with autistic children and their parents for twenty years in the Denver area. Her language learning strategies are available at her site, Now Were Talking. In addition there are materials available at the site for parents and speech and language specialists that can be used in conjunction with the book. This includes photos, games, pretend play and music. There are instructions for how to make a book for your home and utilize pictures of your child for familiarity.

These boardbooks can be utilized in a classroom setting, group therapy sessions, family reading time, floortime sessions, social skills groups and for solo reading during car, train and plane rides over summer vacation. These are perfectly sized for little hands to carry and share with others.

These two books showcase simple daily routines that are done on a daily basis with success in a fun manner. Show Jo How to Make a Sandwich breaks the task down from the dish, utensil (knife), counting the slices of bread, spreading the peanut butter (not on your head!) jelly on the knife and then the bread, putting the pieces together, seeing the finished sandwich and wondering what to do. Then the last two photos are of the few crumbs left on the plate and Jo looking like he ate the whole thing.

These are really fun and engaging pages of photos and images with a story to tell while teaching a routine in the process. Many of the sentences have a rhyming sound, making it all the more fun for children in all age groups. Show Jo How to Wash your Hands shows Jo in a white shirt. The steps start by seeing dirty hands of a child and then Jo with his hands behind his back. It seems Jo is a bit shy about having his hands washed and needs some coaxing.




The water gets turned on, making sure it is the right temperature, using two hands to get the soap, rubbing hands and bubbles, rinsing off the hands and drying them off finished the task. The remaining pages have two small hands all clean while Jo proudly shows off his clean and dry paws.




I like the demonstration of using two hands to pump the liquid soap dispenser, since my nonverbal son Matthew cannot master this process. He does the same thing with the hand lotion, which results in lots of lotion on the side of the bottle. I have some steps taped on the wall over the sink, but they show a bar of soap, so I like the page in the book and will be going over this one repeatedly to Matthew to help him grasp the concept.

I brought both Show Jo books to Matthew's IEP last week and it was a hit with the SLP, OT, AT and teacher. The SLP wrote down the information to check out the website and get the books.



Educational Autism Tips for Families 71 page resourceful ebook for families entering the school system with a recent autism diagnosis. Find out what issues take place over the course of a school day and meet these challenges head on.