Storytelling for Non-Writers and Non-Readers

“A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to

expound.”
Ivan Turgenev

Children with special educational needs often require assistance when it comes to
reading and writing, particularly in the realm of story-telling. Christine de Graft-
Hanson, a consultant for SEMERC, explains how digital media can open up the world
of story-telling to non-readers and non-writers alike.

The art of storytelling has evolved far from its origins of oral recounting using vivid
descriptions and delivery. Whilst everyone loves to hear a good story, technology
now provides a much wider window of opportunity to engage children in their own
reading and writing of stories. This has a particular impact on children with additional
support needs.
In a traditional literacy lesson, teachers tended to present pupils with a blank sheet of
paper and ask them to write a story. There was frequently very little stimulus beyond
instructions to make the story interesting by using adjectives and avoiding the
repetition of words or phrases.
The learner was generally given 30 to 40 minutes to battle with spelling, sentence
structure, story content and descriptions of characters. With any luck, they managed
to produce a piece of finished work before the lesson ended, before being invited to
draw a picture to illustrate their story. Key here is the fact that the drawing part of the
lesson always came at the end, thereby placing emphasis on the use of text and
minimising the importance of graphics.
With the advent of word processors, the story-writer of today has access to support
tools, such as a template to follow or modify, word banks, clip art and imagery.
Concept and mind mapping software has taken this a step further.

The power of images

The impact of any story or message lies in the sequencing of events and the
description of characters and settings. Written text has the power to evoke a
response in most good readers. However, even the best reader can benefit from
added illustrations. For non-readers, visual imagery and audio support are essential.
The use of symbols is perfectly acceptable in the adult world. Simply consider the
information you see at airports, train stations and shopping malls. Often, symbols are
a more effective means of communication than text. For instance, the symbol for an
airport (a plane taking off) is universally understood, allowing travellers in foreign
countries to find their way around.
If fully literate adults benefit from the use of symbols, how much more should we, as
educators, use symbols and imagery with younger learners and learners with
learning difficulties?

Traditional strategies for teaching reading and writing

Educational research provides us with the following cueing strategies for reading,
designed to support teachers in the classroom:
• semantic cueing
• syntactic cueing
• graphophonic cueing
• graphic cueing
Whilst this is certainly not an exhaustible list, these can be used to effect amongst
other strategies to successfully decode written text.
Good writing has always had the emphasis placed on correct letter formation, correct
orientation, letter sizes relative to each other, and heights or lengths of ascenders
and descenders. And all this is before learners are allowed to progress to putting
words together, formulating sentences and using appropriate punctuation!
As a result, the initial introduction to writing is never about creativity or creative story-
writing. Even when the learner has mastered sufficient knowledge of the formation of
the graphemes, the learner then has the hassle of ‘joined-up’ writing (cursive) and
trying to write neatly.
More often than not, rewards such as stickers are given out for neat handwriting. In
the UK, for example, our National Tests at Key Stage 2 (ages 7 – 11) give marks for
using cursive script. Naturally, learners who have not achieved this can feel
inadequate, no matter how neatly they write.
Whilst some children develop cursive writing at a later stage, what happens when a
learner struggles to read both phonetic and non-phonetic words? Or a child who has
fine motor difficulties and cannot grasp a pencil or enter text using a keyboard? The
use of imagery can have a great impact on the speed and level of understanding.

Using images to convey meaning

The practice of using images to convey meaning has been around since the
beginning of time, when ancient cave dwellers drew on cave walls and in the sand as
a means of communication.
Considering the impact of imagery, educators should deliberately plan their teaching
using non text-based reading and writing. From nursery age, the sharing of picture
books should precede the introduction of text-based books. Alternatively, everything
should be presented in the form of text with graphics from the start – even labelling
around the classroom. Educators should make a conscious effort to collect imagery
to support topics in the classroom.
Learners should also be taught to ‘write’ in pictures, particularly bearing in mind that
the majority of people ‘think’ in pictures. When the word ‘MacDonald’s’ is mentioned,
for example, some will picture a Big Mac whilst others will see the golden arches of
the “M”. The majority will not see the writing M a c D o n a l d ’ s written in large
yellow letters on a board.

Reading for the Non-Reader

For the non-reader, the impact of picture books cannot be underestimated. Talking
stories that allow the user to explore the story using two senses are even better.
Even more valuable are software programs that provide interactive versions of talking
stories where a mouse click results in an animation that further illustrates what is
happening in the tale.

Writing for the Non-Writer

Access to a bank of images is important for the non-writer. Today, most young
learners and their teachers can access digital photography from sources such as
cellphones, online image banks such as Google Images, and digital cameras. As with
any successful lesson, effective planning is essential. For instance, a teacher
preparing the farm topic should ensure that he / she has visited a farm beforehand
and taken as many photographs, audio and video clips as possible.

Creating your own resources

A range of content free software is now available in most schools and virtual learning
environments. Most schools and teachers have access to a digital camera, banks of
clip art or relevant software. Using software such as Tool Factory’s Workshop or
Word Processor, Clicker 5, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Publisher makes it
easy to create a talking book or a picture book for (or with) a learner. More
importantly, it will provide hours of useful entertainment as well as educational value.
When requiring a non-writer to compile a story, teachers should ensure pupils have
access to a topic bank of images, symbols, video and audio clips which will support
the topic of their choice. If children have the skills to use a digital camera, provide
them with one suited to their abilities.
For the sake of structure and sequence, you may wish to suggest the learner fills the
frames in a storyboard or uses some other structuring aid, such as a story staircase.
In the storyboard below, using software from Digital Blue ™ PC Movie Creator 2.0,
the story starts with a tranquil desert scene. Suddenly, alien spaceships come into
view, land on the sand and expel aliens. Whilst helicopters chase the aliens, the
strange creatures are only destroyed when ants attack them. Of course, there is lots
of scope for imagination here. The writer doesn’t have to think up and spell the words
to describe the brilliance of the desert scenery, the shiny, metallic spaceships, the
weird looking aliens, the noise the jet and helicopter made, and so on. Nor is there a
fixed ending. No one knows who was victorious or why the ants are scuttling around -
yet it is a good story that captures the imagination. On completion, the learner may
share this movie with the rest of their class.
Developing a sense of sequence
Meaning is essential to the reading and telling of any story and order is crucial for the
reader or the listener to follow the events as they unfold. Whilst a number of modern
television series and movies begin with flashbacks, this can be confusing for the less
confident reader. Before storytelling or writing can begin, the learner has to
understand simple sequences.
When providing learners with sets to be sequenced, it is imperative that the images
have meaning for the leaner. For example, in the sequence below, taken from
Sequences, we cannot expect a learner to correctly sequence the process of the
hatching of an egg if he / she has no knowledge of the fact that chicks are hatched
from eggs.

We also have to bear in mind that it is possible for a non-reader and non-writer to
work out the above sequence from understanding the images or simply matching the
edges of the jigsaws together correctly, even without the knowledge that chicks are
hatched from eggs.
When an adult works alongside a learner, it is important that use of images is
supported by use of language. If we take the above sequence, it would be vital to first
establish the language “egg”, “crack” and “chick”. Depending on the cognitive abilities
of the learner, further vocabulary can then be introduced, such as “hatches” or
“hatching”.
The next two sequences should be familiar enough to belong in the background
knowledge of most learners. Whilst the apple sequence gives a very simple
message, the snowman sequence could be turned into a whole story with the learner
verbally describing the snowman’s appearance and the conditions that result in his
demise.
The images shows how easy it is to see how learners can select all or some of these
to create a story.
With ease of access to digital media, there is no longer any reason why learners who
are non-readers or non-writers should be incapable of expressing themselves and
communicating effectively with others around them. It is down to the supporting adult,
helper or teacher to ensure that digital media resources are placed within their reach
and they are shown how to access these. That is when non-writers will create stories
for the pleasure of all, and non-readers will experience the beauty that lies in
decoding a story.

Consultant: Christine deGraft-Hanson

*added some new pictures