Supporting Narrative Skills in Young Children
Have you ever listened to a young child tell a story? It might begin with a trip to the playground, suddenly jump to a birthday party, and end with their favorite dinosaur. While these stories can be charming, they also provide important information about a child’s language development. Narrative skills, or the ability to tell and understand stories, play a critical role in communication, academic success, and literacy development.
Why Narrative Skills Matter
Stories are everywhere! Children not only hear stories during story time read-alouds, but also incorporate storytelling skills as they share experiences with friends, answer questions in class, and eventually when they begin to write narratives of their own. Strong narrative skills support:
- Sequencing and organization
- Vocabulary development
- Sentence structure
- Language comprehension
- Reading comprehension
- Written expression
- Social communication
Children who can tell coherent stories often have an easier time understanding stories they read later in school.
What Makes a Good Story?
Young children’s stories do not need to be perfect. However, strong narratives generally include a “beginning,” “middle,” and “end” and include the following story elements:
- Characters
- A setting
- A problem or event
- Feelings in response to the initial problem or event
- Actions
- An ending
- End feelings
As children develop, their stories become more detailed, organized, and complex. For example:
Early storyteller:
“We went to the park. I played. Then we went home.”
More developed storyteller:
“Yesterday we went to the park after school. I climbed the tall slide, but I got scared at the top. My dad helped me, and then I went down. It was so much fun!”
Ways to Support Narrative Development
- Read books interactively. Discussions help children think about story structure. Pause while reading and ask questions such as:
- What happened first? (targeting ordinal concepts, comprehension)
- Who is this story about and where are they in the story? (Answering simple WH questions)
- Why do you think the character did that? (Developing inferencing skills, identifying context clues)
- How do you think that made the character feel? (Discussing emotions and social language, also working on identifying context clues and inferencing)
- What might happen next? (Forming predictions)
- Encourage Personal Stories
- Invite children to share experiences about their day, a favorite activity, or a family event.
- Open ended questions like ,”Tell me more” or “What happened next?,” encourage elaboration.
- Use Visual Supports
- Story maps, sequencing cards, and picture scenes can help children organize their thoughts when reading and telling stories.
- Model Storytelling
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- Children learn by hearing stories. Intentionally share your own simple stories about everyday experiences and model clear beginnings, middles, and endings.
The Takeaway
Narrative skills are much more than storytelling! They help children organize thoughts, communicate experiences, and understand the world around them. By thoughtfully supporting narratives during daily routines and reading activities, we can develop and strengthen skills that support both language and literacy growth. Our pediatric speech-language therapists are available to answer your questions. At Child & Family Development, we offer free phone consultations for families who have questions about their child’s development.
