Story Telling: A Chatterboxes Parent’s Handout

When talking with your child as he or she tells you a story or relays an experience, try the following techniques and strategies:

• When your child is trying to tell you a story, relieve his/her stress by sitting with your child and maintaining eye contact and interest. Be an active and interested listener!

• Cue your child in to the sequence of the story e.g. 'That sounds great! Now, tell me again, what happened first? Then what happened? What happened at the end?'

• If your child goes off at a tangent, keep bringing her/him back to the topic e.g. 'Hang on, what happened after you did...?'

• Ask your child specific questions e.g. 'Tell me what happened when you first got to school?' rather than 'What happened at school today?'

• Lead your child's story e.g. 'And after Mrs. Smith said hello to the new boy, she said...?'

• Use the first sound to help your child find the correct word if he/she is struggling e.g. 'a ssss sound...' for a word starting with 's'

• Correct your child by giving a choice of 2 words e.g. 'Did you mean he threw the ball, or he caught the ball?'

• Give your child the opportunity to retell their story to a new listener (e.g. Dad, then Grandma). This allows them to practice and improve their story-telling skills with familiar material.