Introductory Story Writing
Writing Instruction for Language
Impaired Children
Writing a story requires understanding the underlying
structure of a story. While narrative reading comprehension activities can
introduce children to the main parts of a story and demonstrate sequencing of
events, reading stories is not enough for some children to understand how to
create stories of their own.
Teaching story writing in a concrete structured way
will help the child create a sequenced story, develop reading comprehension (by
performing parallel exercises in sequencing and story structure), and develop
his imagination.
Although schooled children are frequently taught that
stories have a beginning, middle, and end, I do not believe that this basic
outline is structured enough for children to write and sequence a story
comfortably. Frequently, they are given an opening sentence (a “story starter”)
and then a blank page for them to fill with their creative thoughts. This task
is quite daunting for many children, not just ones with special needs. Instead
of a blank sheet, we introduce story writing step-by-step starting with the
simplest structure and adding progressively to its complexity until a full
story is created with multiple characters and properly sequenced events
Introductory Story Writing
To introduce story telling, the teacher should use
the Introductory Story Writing Form. At first,
the teacher should select the title and main character of the story. It should
be about a simple realistic event that the child knows well and has experienced
such as going to the zoo or the park. The teacher should write the title on the
title line. The form should be
shown to the child and the subsequent lines filled out with input from the
child and prompting if necessary from the teacher. The child may dictate the
story to the teacher if he can read, but not write. However, the goal is for
the child to eventually write his stories in his own handwriting.
After the form is filled out, the child should read
the story aloud and answer orally simple comprehension questions. (i.e. “where
did the boy go?”) After the child reads the story aloud the form should be
taken away and the child should be
asked to retell the story in order (it doesn’t have to be word for word the
same as on the form, but the sequence should be correct)
This exercise should be done several times until it
is easy for the child to come up with the sequence of events and retell the
story orally.
We keep all of Eric’s stories in a separate binder in
order to monitor the progression of complexity and to watch for possible
repetition of the same themes.