As I was waiting at the bus stop, I overheard a child recounting his day to his mother. “Mommy, we played in playground today. Tommy go-ed on slide and fall down. He cut his chin and go-ed to hospital. Slide so dangerous.” The speech therapist in me immediately jumped into action, analysing the story for its various elements.
While this may not be a plot from ER, the child was able to tell a story, complete with setting, plot and resolution. Even at such a young age, the child was already participating in what we call a narrative.
What is Narrative?
Narrative helps us tell stories and share experiences both in written and oral form. We engage in narratives every time we reminisce about the past. Talking about what we did this morning, or a trip we took in the past. These are all part of narratives. Some times, we make up stories to entertain or impress others. Behaviours we are not proud of, but they too fall under the category of narratives.
Why is Narrative Important?
Narrative is a social, cognitive and defensive skill. In terms of social, it helps us build and maintain intimacy. Think about the group chats we engage in when we sit together. We talk about interesting events, share stories we have heard or discuss problems we face. Narrative thus act as a social glue, binding all involved, together.
It is defensive in that it allows us to explain ourselves when something happens. Children who have difficulty doing so often get into trouble. They are not able to convince the teachers that they are not the culprit, or they may lose their tempers when they get accused of things they did not do. In other words, they are not able to defend themselves.
Cognitively, narrative skill provides the structure for us to comprehend what we read and hear. It helps us to think critically about the precipitating factors that led to an event, and help us make predictions about what will happen next. It also helps us to distill the lessons from life events, helping us to grow as a person.
In addition, narrative also allows us to transmit information, an important skill which has allowed our civilisation to flourish due to the sharing of knowledge.
Read also: 8 Surprising Facts about Dyslexia
When Does Narrative Develop?
Narrative is a skill that starts to develop around the age of 2. At this age, children may start to share simple happenings with a word or two. Their story may not have a logical flow, and are characterised by several disjointed topics following one another.
As children further develop their ability to understand longer sentences, they also start to put two or more ideas together. This allows them to start recounting slightly longer events with some links between the characters, setting and central event. By the time children reach 7 to 8 years, they will have enough narrative skills to tell elaborate stories with a true plot.
Characteristics of Difficulties With Narratives
When children have difficulties with their narratives, their stories usually look like this:
-Short sentences lacking in detail
-Stories do not follow a structure. May jump around from one part to the next with no logical flow
-Details in the story may contradict each other
-Use simple vocabulary and general words like “that”, “things”, “got” instead of more specific vocabulary
-Tend to talk about things in the present instead of situations in the past or future
-Difficulties coming up with ideas
See also: Reading Comprehension Difficulties
How to Help Children With Narrative
STEP 1: Learn About Various Story Grammar
To work on this skill, I will read books and talk about the various components that make up a narrative. These components are what we call story grammar and include setting (time and place), characters, problem, feeling, action, resolution and ending.
This stage mainly involves modelling and requires little input from the child. The idea is to highlight each element of the story so that the child starts to take notice of how they are used in stories. As I read each part, I will say “Oh this is Jon and that is James. They are characters in the book.” Or if the page mentions “Once upon a time in a land far far away”, then I may say “Oh the land far far away is where the story takes place. It is the setting”.
We usually start with simple books to make each story grammar easier to identify. We may go through several different books, doing this activity over several sessions to help the child get acquainted with all these elements.
I may also assign homework to parents. I will teach them how to point out the various story grammar so that their child gets to benefit from even more exposure.
STEP 2: Sorting Cards into Different Categories of Story Grammar
The next step will involve having the child identify various story grammar. I may present a deck of cards with images of characters, settings, emotions, time and so forth. I will also provide a story map that lay out the various categories of story grammar.
After providing the child with the definition of each component, I will explain that some cards may belong to one or more categories. Following this, the child will be expected to sort the deck of cards into their corresponding categories.
STEP 3: Defining Story Grammar
Once the child can successfully sort the cards into their various categories, I will ask her to define each of the category in her own words. I will also get the child to explain why she has sorted the cards the way she did.
STEP 4: Identifying Transition Words
After the child has shown a good grasp of the various story grammar, I will expressively teach transition words. Transition words are basically words that connect ideas in a story.
The child will be taught to recognise the connection between certain transition words/phrases and certain story grammar. For example, words like “First”, “Initially” are usually related to the beginning. Words like “But” and “However” are usually reserved for contradictions, and contradictions usually take place in the middle of the story. Words like “Finally” and “In the end” usually comes at the end of stories. These words are important as they help the child to identify various story elements.
STEP 5: Identifying Story Grammar in Stories
In this step, the child will be asked to identify the various story grammar in stories. I may ask him questions like “Who are the characters in the story?”, “Where is the setting?” And the child will have to provide the answer verbally. If he is unable to do so, I may ask him to locate them by flipping through the book to find these information.
Likewise, I will ask parents to do the same with books at home so that we can sneak in more practice.
STEP 6: Using Narrative in Short Recounts
After the child has gotten better at identifying the various story grammar, we then move to helping her to use them in her narratives. We usually start with very simple recounts of real-life events in her life.
At the start, I would use photographs of events in her life. We can get parents to furnish these photos for use during therapy. If the child misses out some story grammar, I would then provide prompts in the form of visuals or verbal reminders. For example, I may point to the characters and ask “Who were there?” or to the setting and ask “Where did you go?”
STEP 7: Using Narrative in Longer Stories
Once the child is able to recount simple events without any prompts, we may move on to longer real-life events or work on having the child retell simple stories that they have read before.
With stories, it is important that they are familiar with the stories. We want to eliminate unfamiliarity as a reason for children missing out on critical details. Rather, we want to be able to pin-point their area of weakness and identify reliable targets for therapy.
STEP 8: Using Narrative in Writing
For an older child, I usually move on to getting her to write her own stories as this is an essential academic skill. At the start, I will ask the child to plan out her story using a story map template and getting her to write her story based on her plan. As the child gets better, I may only provide her with a blank sheet of paper and have her draw and fill in her own story maps.
Conclusion
As you can see, narrative is crucial to a child’s success at school. Not only does it allow children to participate academically, it allows them to form and maintain friendship. However, teaching narrative is a long-drawn process and requires effort from the child, his parents, teachers and speech therapists. Nevertheless, it is a teachable skill and with time and effort, your child can improve his narrative skill.
What other strategies have you found to be helpful in teaching narrative? Share them below!
