New to this topic? Start with our companion article: Narrative Macrostructure: Story Grammar and Structure in Children | Brisbane Speech Pathologist
If your child tells stories that jump around, miss key details, or leave the listener wondering "and then what happened?" — you're not alone. Many children need explicit support to learn how to structure a story so that it's clear, complete, and satisfying. The good news is that story structure can be taught, and the strategies that work are practical, engaging, and easy to build into everyday life.
In our previous article, we explained what narrative macrostructure is — the overall organisation of a story, including story grammar elements like setting, problem, attempt, and resolution. In this article, we'll share practical strategies for building these skills at home, at school, and in speech pathology sessions.
Why Explicit Teaching of Story Structure Works
Research by Petersen, Gillam and Gillam (2008) has shown that children benefit significantly from explicit, structured instruction in narrative macrostructure. When children are taught what the parts of a story are — and given tools to help them include those parts — their stories become more complete, more organised, and easier to understand. This isn't about squashing creativity. It's about giving children a framework they can use to organise their ideas, which actually frees them up to be more creative within that structure.
Think of it like learning to ride a bike with training wheels. The structure supports the child while they're learning, and over time, they internalise it and don't need the supports anymore. Having a visual story map on the table can transform a session — children who previously said "I don't know what to write" suddenly have a plan. Across many years of narrative work, I've found this is often the single biggest unlock for children who've been labelled "reluctant writers".
Making Story Structure Visible During Shared Reading
One of the most natural ways to build story structure is to name it out loud while you're reading a picture book together. At the beginning, you might notice the setting — "Oh look, the character is a little bear, and he lives in the mountains." When the problem appears — "Uh-oh, what's gone wrong in this story?" When the character is feeling something — "He looks worried. What do you think he'll do?" And at the end — "How did he solve it?"
Over time, many children begin to internalise these elements and start spotting them without prompts. You can shift from telling ("That's the problem") to asking ("What's the problem in this story?") as their understanding grows.
Story Maps at the Kitchen Table
A story map is a simple visual tool that lays out the main story grammar elements — who, where, what problem, what happened, how it ended. It doesn't need to be fancy; a quick sketch on a piece of paper after reading a book together works beautifully. "Who was in the story? Where did it happen? What was the problem? How did they fix it?" Pairing story maps with microstructure strategies helps your child develop both the big-picture structure and the sentence-level language at once.
Speech pathologists often use more structured versions of this — programmes like Petersen's Story Champs (Petersen, Spencer & Foster, 2018) use consistent icons and a scaffolded sequence to teach story grammar elements explicitly, with strong research behind the approach. If your child needs more targeted support than casual home story maps can offer, this is the kind of thing a speech pathologist can tailor.
Dinner Table and Bedtime Stories
Storytelling fits beautifully into family routines. At dinner, each person can share something that happened to them, and you can model a clear shape: "I was at the shops (setting) when I realised I'd forgotten my wallet (problem). I felt really embarrassed (feeling). I had to go all the way home to get it (attempt). Luckily, the shop held my groceries for me (resolution)." At bedtime, instead of only reading a story, you can take turns building one together — gently nudging your child toward the elements along the way. "That's a great beginning. So what's the problem going to be? How does the character feel about that?"
Retelling familiar stories is another powerful option — a favourite book, a movie, or something that happened on the weekend. Isbell and colleagues (2004) found that children who regularly engaged in storytelling and retelling showed significant improvements in both oral language complexity and story comprehension. Wordless picture books (like Tuesday by David Wiesner or Window by Jeannie Baker) are wonderful here too, because the pictures give the structure while your child supplies all the language.
How Speech Pathologists Work on Macrostructure
When we work on narrative macrostructure at Speaking Speech Pathology, we bring the session to your child — at your home or early learning centre — which means we can model and practise in your child's real environment, using their own books and interests, and coach parents in how to weave story structure into daily life. For children who need more support, we use visual scaffolding (icons, story maps, picture sequences) and hands-on activities. For children who have the basics but need to develop more complex narratives, we build up to multiple episodes, internal responses, and more sophisticated story language.
Ukrainetz (2006) emphasised the importance of contextualised language intervention — working on narrative skills within meaningful, engaging activities rather than through isolated drill. This approach aligns with how we work at Speaking Speech Pathology: we build narrative skills through real storytelling activities that matter to the child.
The Key Takeaway
Story structure isn't something children need to figure out on their own. It can — and should — be taught explicitly, using visual tools, modelling, and lots of practice. Whether you're a parent sharing a bedtime story or a teacher planning a writing unit, the strategies in this article can help your child tell stories that are clearer, more complete, and more engaging.
Alexandra Bouwmeester is a Senior Speech Pathologist (MSPA, CPSP) with over 14 years' experience and a mum of two young boys. She knows first-hand how powerful bedtime storytelling can be for building narrative skills, and offers mobile speech pathology to families across Brisbane's south side and Logan.
For families across Brisbane's south side and Logan who'd like support with their child's narrative skills, get in touch with Speaking Speech Pathology — we offer mobile speech pathology in your home to help build confident storytellers.
References
- Petersen, D. B., Spencer, T. D., & Foster, M. E. (2018). Narrative assessment and intervention: A clinical tutorial on extending explicit teaching of narrative structure to preschoolers. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 49(1), 197–208.
- Isbell, R., Sobol, J., Lindauer, L., & Lowrance, A. (2004). The effects of storytelling and story reading on the oral language complexity and story comprehension of young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(3), 157–163.
- Ukrainetz, T. A. (2006). Contextualized Language Intervention: Scaffolding PreK–12 Literacy Achievement. Pro-Ed.
