In this episode we are joined by Tori Ross, Speech-Language Pathologist, owner of Talking with Tori Speech Therapy, and author of Once Upon a Doodle: An Alliance Adventure.

Tori explains how her school and private-practice experience shaped an interactive wipe-clean “choose your own adventure” book designed to increase engagement, support early language, narrative development, early literacy, and motor speech needs through short phrases, predictable story structure, story grammar elements, sequencing/retell supports, and problem-solving prompts.

She shares ways parents, educators, and clinicians can embed goals during shared reading—purposeful open-ended questions, modeling/expanding language, natural articulation and phonological awareness practice—and describes companion downloadable activities accessed via QR code.

Tori cites dialogic reading research showing greater language gains than passive reading and encourages clinicians to create needed resources grounded in evidence-based practice.