Celebrate

What Works!

THE UTAH SPECIAL

EDUCATOR
May 2010 • VOL. 32 NO. 4
Intervention
Narrative
Intervention for
Preschool Classes
Trina D. Spencer, Utah State University and
Douglas B. Petersen, University of Wyoming
Narrative Intervention for Preschool Classrooms
A preponderance of evidence documents the importance of language skills for reading
comprehension (Catts, Adlof, &Weismer, 2006; Catts & Kamhi, 1986; Catts, Fey, Zhang,
& Tomblin, 1999; Roth, Speece, & Cooper, 2002; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). Rather than
waiting until children begin to struggle with reading comprehension, interventions can be
delivered in preschool to enhance children’s oral language and story comprehension skills
(Skarakis-Doyle & Dempsey, 2008). Narrative language (storytelling) is one type of oral
language that is specifically linked to reading. Early narrative language has been identified as
one of the best predictors of later reading comprehension performance (Catts, Fey, Tomblin,

26 May 2010 • The Utah Special Educator

& Zhang 2002; Dickinson & McCabe, 2001; Griffin,
Hemphill, Camp, & Wolf, 2004) and general academic
success (Bishop & Edmonson, 1987; Feagans &
Applebaum, 1986). Not only does narrative language
support literacy development, but also adequate narrative
skills allow children to engage their peers socially
(Johnston, 2008; McCabe & Marshall, 2006). Narrative
language is used whenever a child presents an account
of causally related events in temporal order (Hughes,
McGillivray, & Schmidek, 1997; Peterson, 1990). This
means that when children tell what they ate for dinner the
previous night, how they scraped their knee, or about the
birthday party they attended, they use narrative language.
Children use narrative language to interact with parents,
teachers, and peers, and 70% of their narrative interactions
consist of personal stories (Preece, 1987).
The primary components of narrative intervention
include instruction on the important parts of a story and
frequent practice telling and retelling stories. Although not
exactly the same, different genres of stories (e.g., fictional
and personal) follow a similar structure. Most every story
includes a setting, at least one character, an initiating event
such as a problem or the high point of the story, feelings,
actions, and an ending (Hughes et al., 1997; Stein &
Glenn, 1979; Peterson, 1990). In narrative intervention,
many effective instructional practices such as modeling,
prompting, shaping, frequent opportunities to respond, and
positive feedback are incorporated. For example, a teacher
models telling stories while identifying the main parts,
then supports the children telling the same story using
pictures, icons, and verbal prompting. Once the teacher
introduces the narrative structure, she can support chil-
dren’s personal stories as they naturally occur throughout
the day or fictional stories in routine activities such as
book reading or in a writing center.
The research supporting early childhood narrative
intervention is mounting and specific efforts have
been made to integrate procedures into classrooms.
Traditionally, professionals and researchers have imple-
mented narrative intervention with children with language
impairments (Petersen, in press) and delivered it to
individuals (Petersen, Gillam, Spencer, & Gillam, in press)
or small groups of two or three children (Hayward &
Schneider, 2000). However, recent interest in applying
the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework to early
childhood education has forced educators to seek evi-
dence-based interventions appropriate for Tier II. To make
narrative intervention feasible as a multi-tiered strategy,
we have adapted procedures from previous research on
narrative intervention (e.g., Gillam, McFadden, & van
Kleek, 1995; Hayward & Schneider, 2000; Miller, Gillam,
& Peña, 2001; Petersen et al., in press) to be suitable for
classrooms. The narrative intervention steps presented
here are drawn from a program still in development called
Story Champs, which includes stories, corresponding
pictures, icons, and games (Spencer, Petersen, & Slocum,
2010; Spencer & Slocum, 2010). These steps can be used
as a general guide for delivering narrative intervention
within a RTI framework. For more detailed information on
narrative assessment and treatment, see Gillam and Gillam
(2010) and for early childhood narrative assessment and
intervention tools visit www.languagedynamicsgroup.com.
Large Group Narrative Intervention
Step 1: Model. Teacher displays five pictures (see Figure
1) and models the story. As she presents the story, she
identifies the main parts of the story and uses icons
(see Figure 2) to represent them. After modeling the story,
teacher asks the students, “What are the parts of the
story?” Teacher uses a signal to help students respond
together, “Character, problem, feeling, action, ending.”
Step 2: Active Listening. Teacher models the story
again while students listen to the story and make a
corresponding gesture when the teacher tells each part
(i.e., Character = hand on head, Problem = thumbs down,
Feeling = finger touching near eye, Action = open hand
moves across body, and Ending = thumbs up). Story
Gestures is implemented in a game-like fashion to
enhance active listening.
Step 3: Co-Telling. Teacher asks the students to think
about the parts of the story beginning with character and
proceeding through the other parts of the story. After all
students have covertly formed an answer, the teacher calls
on an individual student to tell a part of the story. Teacher
provides support if necessary, then restates or rephrases
student’s answer and models it for the group. Teacher uses
a signal to help students respond together to repeat the part
of the story. When the group has told all parts of the story,
the teacher summarizes the story to provide a cohesive
model.
Continued on page 28
The Utah Special Educator • May 2010 27
Narrative Intervention for
Preschool Classes
Step 4: Independent Retelling. Students separate into pairs
to practice retelling to each other. First one child tells the
story while the partner monitors and/or helps the narrator tell
the complete story. Then, the partners switch roles. When
all the students have retold the story, the students gather in
the group area. Teacher encourages everyone to clap for
themselves and their friends who are all story champs.
Small Group Narrative Intervention
Step 1: Modeling. Teacher displays five pictures on a table
in front of students and models the story. While telling the
story, the teacher identifies the parts of the story and lays
out icons that correspond to each part.
Step 2: Co-Telling. Each of the children and the teacher
are assigned a part of the story to tell and in sequence tell
their part. After the group has retold the story, the teacher
summarizes it to present an additional cohesive model
before students retell the story independently.
Step 3: Retelling and Active Listening. Each child takes a
turn retelling the story. With each retell, an element of visual
support can be withdrawn. For example, the first student
tells the story with the pictures and the icons available and
the next student retells the story with only the icons to serve
as prompts. The icons can be removed for subsequent re-
Narrative language is important for social and academic
development and can be addressed prior to kindergarten.
Along with other emergent literacy skills, narration can help
build a foundation for later reading comprehension and can
easily be embedded into the preschool day.
tells to promote increasingly independent narration. During
students’ individual retells, the others play story gestures
(described above) to promote active listening. The teacher
provides individualized support to the narrator. As children
retell individually, the teacher may choose to prompt the
inclusion of language targets other than the parts of the
story such as correct pronoun usage, specific vocabulary,
or complex language that focuses on causal and temporal
terms. In this manner, small group narrative instruction
provides a more intense program in which teachers tailor
it to fit the needs of the students.
In order to facilitate generalization to children’s personal
28 May 2010 • The Utah Special Educator
stories, modeled stories should be about events familiar to
the children such as looking for lost articles of clothing,
playing a game, or visiting the doctor. Following the retell
steps of large or small group intervention, the teacher can
ask if the children have experienced something similar and
then support their telling of personal stories. Throughout the
day, teachers can reinforce the narrative structure and
encourage other activities that will further develop their
language skills. Below are a number of suggestions for
integrating narrative activities into preschool classrooms.
• Encourage picture stories, where children or the teacher
draw a picture to correspond to each part of the story.
Children can narrate the story while the teacher
transcribes it onto their pictures.
• Provide opportunities for story sequencing using
pictures. The teacher can tell a story and have the
students arrange the pictures in order. Pictures can also
be available in the classroom for children to sequence on
their own or with a friend.
• Integrate story structure into social skills lessons. For
example, the teacher can ask the students to make up an
appropriate action and ending to a story about Harry who
is mad because Michael is playing with one of his toys.
• Ask the students to make up a story using the icons to
guide the inclusion of all the parts. The teacher can draw
stick figure pictures to go along with the student-
generated stories (Ukrainetz, 1998).
• When reading books, teachers can ask factual questions
such as “Who is the character in this book?” and “What
is his problem?” Teachers can also ask inferential
questions such as “How do you think he feels?”
• Use puppets and role-playing to engage the students in
the stories.
 • Cover the words to a simple picture book and ask the
students to make up the story to go with the pictures.

• Use snack time as an opportunity to tell personal stories.

The teacher can tell a personal story about something that
happened that morning and ask the students to tell about
their morning.

• Use recent experiences the whole class shared such as

field trips, a class visitor, or a special group project to
facilitate story retells. When the teacher has also shared
the experience, it will be easier for her to support student
retells of the event.

• Prepare the students to tell their parents about an event

that occurred at school that day. Have them practice with
you before they leave for home. Send home pictures of a
story used in class for students to practice retelling it to
their parents.

Narrative language is important for social and academic

development and can be addressed prior to kindergarten.
Along with other emergent literacy skills, narration can help
build a foundation for later reading comprehension and can
easily be embedded into the preschool day. Additionally, the
targeted large group or small group formats described here
are suitable for Tier II instruction within an RTI model. In
addition to a growing body of research support, we have
observed that young children enjoy the game-like procedures
and independently seek occasions to tell stories, draw stories,
and listen to stories. A brief introduction to narrative struc-
ture, via narrative intervention, seems to expose numerous
opportunities for practice and further literacy development.
We believe that narrative language is a valuable emergent
literacy skill that, if addressed in preschool, can prepare
children for successful reading experiences.

References available upon request from the Utah

Personnel Development Center

Graphics copyright 2010, Spencer and Petersen. n

The Utah Special Educator • May 2010 29