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Establishing a foundation of story structure or a cognitive โstory schemaโ is key to facilitating effective & efficient comprehension and generation of narratives.
๐๐จ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐ข๐ญ?
Iโll be honest:
As with most things, there isnโt only one way, but Iโll give you some tips that have a strong evidence baseโin research and in my own clinical practice!
โญ๏ธ ๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ฌ.
Thatโs just a fancy way to say: use multiple stories that have the same target structure. At least initially (while establishing the story schema), use a new story (โexemplarโ) each session.
Donโt worry if the kids arenโt retelling the stories perfectly, especially in the beginning. Support them through the stories, identifying and modeling those story grammar elements!
When the โconstantโ between sessions is the schema, that is what sticks and supports generalization of skills.
โญ๏ธ ๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ค๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐.
Itโs better to start with an โeasyโ or simple story and add complexity than to start too hard or complex. Ideally, as structure is being established, you want to minimize extraneous or complex information because itโs hard for kids to parse out what is important. Once the schema is established, you can add complexity back inโbut at least initially, keep it simple, establishing that schema as an anchor.
โญ๏ธ ๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ.
Think story grammar icons, simple illustrations, etc. But donโt forget to fade them!! Visuals are powerful tools, but can result in dependency if not faded systematically. Consider retelling stories with pictures + icons, then icons only, then without visual support (yes, all in the same session)!
โญ๏ธ ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐.
Itโs very effective to work on the entire story schema/story grammar sequence, rather than choosing specific elements to work on each session(not that you canโt do that). Working on the schema as a whole maintains the meaningful and causal relationships between each element, rather than isolating and decontextualizing the elements.
โญ๏ธ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐, ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐, ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐!
It is important to provide feedback and correction, but make sure the kids are putting that corrective feedback into practice IMMEDIATELY. If you tell the kid he/she missed the emotion, donโt just have them tell you what is it. Always go back one step (e.g., to the problem) and start retelling from there, integrating the previously omitted emotion. This maintains the meaningful connections between elements and targets the entire schema as a whole.
Reference