Fiona’s Luck

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This story is a folk-tale of a clever girl, leprechauns, and luck. The girl outwits the leprechaun king and brings luck back to Ireland to help her people. Magical and lovely, it was a story that made me proud to be a girl.

Speech Therapy ideas:

1. This book abounds with /l/ sounds. If your child is inconsistent in making /l/ sounds, practice with this book. If you need to prompt good /l/ sounds, put your tongue behind your teeth, open you mouth, and say “la la la”. Do this together with your child in front of a mirror. Some /l/ words to practice: leprechaun, luck, like, land, lie

2. The main character of the story “Fiona” provides many opportunities to practice the /f/ sound. Demonstrating the /f/ sound is quite easy as it is such a visual sound. Tell you child to gently bite their lip and blow. Easy.

3. Talk about luck. What is luck. Someone who has lots of luck is called…… “lucky”. Someone without luck is called…..”unlucky”. Give examples of times when people are lucky or you have been lucky.

4. This story contains several idioms and non-literal phrases. Talk about these: “they made luck like cows made milk”, “squeezing water from a stone”, “Fiona had pails/baskets/wheelbarrows of [luck]”.

5. How did the king try to trick Fiona. Did it work? How did Fiona trick the king? Explaining the deceit in this story requires higher level thinking. If this is difficult for your child, try drawing out what the king thought and what Fiona thought. The visual demonstration may be helpful.

6. Retell the story using descriptive language. Try to describe the tricks in the story.