Narrative
A narrative, or story, tells us about an event or series of events and can be real or made-up. Learning to tell stories is important for the development of social skills (many social interactions we have are based on telling stories about our own experiences) and educational skills (it helps children to understand what they have read in books and to write good stories).
Some strategies:
- Talk to your child during every day routines – Talk about what your child is doing as they complete each step, and then ask your child to tell you what they did. These routines can include brushing teeth, getting dressed or making breakfast. (e.g. “First, you put on your pants. Next, you put on your shirt. After that you put on your socks, and last you put on your shoes.”)
- Baking – Discuss “What are all the things we need?” (including utensils, ingredients etc.). Talk about the steps involved as you do them. (e.g. making cookies. “We need a mixing bowl … etc. First, we are going to measure the butter and the sugar…”).
- Ask your child to tell you what they did at school – ask questions such as “what did you play with?” or “what did you do at lunch time” for more information.
- Puppets – Have your puppet tell a story or series of events to your child’s puppet. You could also encourage your child to use different voices (e.g. loud, soft, angry).
Speech Pathology Team