Literacy-Based Therapy Bootcamp: Step 5 (Parallel Story)

Welcome to the final instalment of our Literacy Based Therapy Bootcamp series! Today we’re talking about parallel stories — which just might be Marisha’s favorite part of the whole literacy-based therapy framework.

Parallel stories are an incredible way to integrate all of the skills that we've targeted throughout our literacy-based units. The goal of this activity is to pull the vocabulary, sentence structures, and plot elements from the story you’ve been using, and then use them to create something new.

This is a lot like story generation, but we have a jumping off point to draw inspiration from thanks to the previous story. We can use those building blocks to integrate the skills that we’ve targeted in a fresh — and fun — way.

In this episode, Marisha talks about:

• Getting student buy-in, and why they love this step so much
• Using visuals like a graphic organizer to piece together story grammar elements
• Creating a parallel story for “Snowman at Night”, replacing the snowmen with cacti
• Extending the activity by creating something students can take home and share

Remember: The most meaningful practice our students can get happens outside of the speech room, and in the context of their real lives. Our job is to help them develop their language skills — so they can tell (and retell!) a story they’re proud of.

SHOW NOTES + RESOURCES

Find the full show notes and links to resources mentioned at slpnow.com/178