This year, I’m starting push-in speech therapy in my kindergarten classrooms, and I’m so excited to share this journey with you! For the first time, I’ll be teaching story elements—like characters, setting, problem, and solution—in a fun, interactive way that fits right into the students’ regular classroom activities. And the best part? I want YOU to join me! I’ll be emailing my push-in speech therapy with story elements lessons every week, so you can follow along, try them out in your own classrooms, and help your students thrive.
Why Teach Story Elements in Speech Therapy?
Research shows that teaching story elements is one of the best ways to improve language comprehension and narrative skills in young children. By breaking down stories into parts like characters, setting, and problem-solving, students learn to understand story structure. This makes it easier for them to recall details, predict outcomes, and retell stories—all of which are critical for success in both academics and social communication.
When we teach story elements, we’re also supporting critical thinking and executive functioning skills like planning and problem-solving. This helps students make connections between what happens in stories and their own real-life experiences. Plus, story elements give non-verbal or minimally verbal students visual and structured prompts that help them build their own narratives in a way that’s manageable and engaging.
Why I’m Doing Push-In Therapy (And Why You Should Too!)
Push-in therapy has so many benefits! Instead of pulling students out of the classroom, I’m working alongside them in their regular learning environment. This means they get to practice their new speech and language skills in real-time, with their peers, and during their everyday classroom activities. Research shows that this leads to better generalization of skills, because students are using what they’ve learned in real-world situations. It’s also a fantastic way to support social learning and peer modeling—students see their classmates using language and communication strategies, which encourages them to do the same.
And for us as SLPs, push-in therapy allows us to collaborate closely with teachers, making sure our speech goals align with what’s being taught in the classroom. This creates a more inclusive learning environment where all students, regardless of their language abilities, can access the same curriculum and participate fully in their education.
Tips for Teaching Story Elements During Whole Group Push-In Therapy
Here are a few simple but effective tips I’ve found helpful when teaching story elements in a whole group push-in lesson:
- Keep It Simple: Focus on one story element at a time. Keep instructions clear and manageable so students don’t get overwhelmed.
- Collaborate with Teachers: Work closely with the classroom teacher to integrate your lessons into the daily curriculum. Ask for their input and ideas—this way, speech goals can align with classroom content, and everyone stays on the same page.
- Get Them Moving: Incorporate movement into your lessons. Let the students act out parts of the story or use gestures to represent different elements like the problem or solution. This keeps them engaged and makes learning more fun!
- Have Clear Expectations: Make sure the students know what to expect during each lesson. Whether it’s how they’ll participate or what they’ll do after the story, setting clear expectations helps keep the group focused and on task.
Want to Join Me on This Push-In Therapy Journey?
Here’s the best part—I want you to join me in this push-in therapy adventure! Every week, I’ll be emailing out my lessons, tips, and activities so you can try them in your own classrooms. Whether you’re an SLP just starting out with push-in therapy or you’ve been doing it for years, we can learn and grow together as we teach story elements in a way that’s both effective and fun for our students.
By subscribing, you’ll get access to my weekly push-in therapy lessons, along with practical tips and ideas to help you create engaging speech therapy sessions in your own classrooms. Let’s go on this push-in therapy journey together and help our students become master storytellers!
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Research Supporting Story Elements in Language Development
- Morrow, L. M. (1985). “Retelling stories: A strategy for improving young children’s comprehension, concept of story structure, and oral language complexity.” The Elementary School Journal, 85(5), 646-661.
The Benefits of Narrative Skills for Language Development
- Westby, C. (2005). “Assessing and remediating text comprehension problems.” Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36(4), 312-324.
Push-In Therapy and Its Effectiveness
- Ehren, B. J. (2000). “Maintaining a therapeutic focus and sharing responsibility for student success: Keys to in-classroom speech-language services.” Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 31(3), 219-229.
Social Learning Benefits of Push-In Therapy
- Nelson, N. W. (2010). “Collaborative speech-to-print instruction using story retell with a narrative cue card.” Topics in Language Disorders, 30(4), 318-338.
