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Tutorial on Social Language Stories

Preparation

When telling these stories, choose a quiet place and relaxed time of the morning, afternoon, or early evening. Please note, for many children this isn’t a good bedtime activity as your child is being asked to do what is hard– to concentrate on language. Sit next to your child so you both can see the pictures in the story.

You may want to print these stories and compile them. If you put them in a three-ring binder and label it (child’s name)’s Storybook, you can read them over and over as children often like to do.

You will see that these are simple black line drawings, so your child may enjoy coloring one or more versions of each story. Coloring these special stories offers you another time to interact together around the text.

Introducing Your Child to Concepts about Printed Books

When reading to your child, you can introduce your child to some very important principles about books and reading. These principles will be useful to your child as she or he approaches any reading task. You can introduce these principles about books and reading by pointing and labeling important elements. These concepts include:

• Books have covers, and they have a front and a back
• Books are read from left to right
• Pages are read from top to bottom
• Pages are “turned” one at a time

As your child becomes more familiar with books, he or she can say ‘The End’ as he or she finishes the book, point out the author’s name, the illustrator’s name, and the page numbers.

The Story Format

Plots: These stories are designed around simple everyday activities. Although most talking is fairly spontaneous in nature, we find that many everyday activities involve a small set of predictable vocabulary and can be talked about using short and simple sentences- an ideal situation for learning new language forms!

The plots, therefore, focus on typical authentic experiences. These are not fantasy stories, but depict real-life events. Social language stories should help your child transfer the learning accomplished during story-telling to the natural world. Some examples are: bedtime activities, getting in the car, talking on the phone, etc. Parents can write their own stories suited to their child’s own special needs and interests. Writing a story or script about an upcoming event can help your child understand and adjust to an important activity or change in routine. For example, you might want to write a short script about a trip to the doctor or dentist, a first visit to school, etc. Using real photographs may be very helpful in preparing your child for these events.

Props: Most social language stories involve drawn pictures, photos, or felt board cutouts. They support the language being presented, and in the case of the vocabulary items, depict fairly recognizable examples of the word’s meaning. This should facilitate recognition and naming of the real items when encountered in your child’s daily life.

Organization: Social language stories are organized into three-step interactional sequences.

1. Each page consists of a sentence or two of story content immediately followed by a prompt also said by the story teller, which is designed to elicit a response from the child.
2. Then, hopefully the child responds.
3. The story teller provides some follow-up, which is designed to give the child feedback, and depending on the child’s response capabilities, to stimulate language even further.

Example from the social language story: Danny’s Bedtime
Story-teller says: This is Danny’s Mom. Who is this?  
Targeted child response: Mom. 
Story-teller follow-up: That’s right. It’s Mom. This is Danny’s Mom.

Follow-ups: These are positive responses by the story teller to whatever the child’s response has been. Even if the child fails to say something, we encourage you to think of ways you can say or do something to keep the interaction going in a positive way.

• If your child has a language problem and is usually non-verbal, encourage your child to gesture, point, or vocalize to respond. Praise all efforts, and repeat the targeted word in your follow up. For example, “Yea!  I heard you turn on your voice for car!”
• Some parents find that the sentence completions are easier for their child to respond to than the Wh-questions. You may wish to adapt the order/type of question to the abilities of your child and then move on to more difficult questions later.

Final suggestions: These should be fun times with your child– always try to keep the interactions positive. Over time, watch for more and more responding from your child!

• Try to notice what types of follow-ups elicit the best responses from your child, and substitute these for the ones we suggest in our stories. Your own prompts may be more effective and more meaningful when individualized to your own child.
• Consider writing your own social language stories. They aren’t hard to do, and this will give you a chance to help your child develop the language to interact within his/her own unique life experiences. Some parents find these stories are especially helpful to prepare their children for anticipated experiences that may present some special challenges. For example, a first day at school, a trip to the dentist, a visit by a relative. Actual photographs of your child and other family members work well in these stories.

Very best wishes as you engage in social language stories with your child!!

Social Language Story 1 - Maddie Gets Ready for Bed

Social Language Story 2 - DeJuan Rides in the Car

Social Language Story 3 - Maddie Shares Her Toys