The Story Grammar Marker® Approach
For Language Development, Inference Generation, and Discourse-Level Comprehension and Expression
Join thousands of educators, parents, and other professionals in implementing the Story Grammar Marker® Approach with our virtual courses, onsite workshops, coaching, and hands-on instructional materials!
Learn why Maryellen Rooney Moreau, M.Ed. CCC-SLP developed the Story Grammar Marker® Approach to language & literacy!
Improve Language, Literacy, Higher Order Language & Cognitive Skills
- Oral Language Development
- Language Comprehension
- Awareness of Text Structure
- Reading Comprehension
- Sentences, Questions & Cohesive Ties
- Vocabulary and Background Knowledge
- Critical Thinking
- Inference Generation
- Narrative & Informational Writing
- Verbal Reasoning
- Social Emotional Learning
- Theory of Mind
- Perspective-Taking
- Situation Model & Mental Models
Develop Foundational Language & Cognitive Skills and Social, Emotional, & Mental Well-Being
- Co- and Self-Regulation
- Fostering Resilience
- Working Memory
- Empathy Building
- Sequencing Routines
- Problem Solving
- Emotional Intelligence
- Organizing Thoughts
- Mediating Meltdowns
- Facilitating Conversations
- Resolving Conflicts
- Executive Functioning
- Mediating Sibling Rivalry
- Goal-Setting
- Thinking and Talking About Feelings, Plans, Thoughts, Outcomes
The Story Grammar Marker® Approach improves the language and literacy skills of children by empowering Educators, Parents, Specialists, SLPs, Psychologists to…
Foster High Student Engagement with our easy-to-use icon-based system and hands-on, intuitive tools.
Encourage Interdisciplinary Collaboration among students, classroom teachers, SLPs, specialists, parents, reading teachers, literacy coaches, content area teachers, psychologists and more!
Cultivate a Common Language in the Classroom, the Therapy Room, the Playground – and HOME!
Facilitate Classroom Management via organizing expectations, sequencing routines, solving problems and resolving interpersonal conflicts, and assisting with self-regulation.
Save Time: the SGM® is LOW PREP — once you know the system, you can grab the tools and maps in the moment, in any situation, during any lesson!
Make quality instructional decisions based upon scientific research, models and frameworks, and delivering explicit, systematic, and differentiated instruction.
Nurture a Growth Mindset and a “CAN DO!” attitude. Discover students’ Superpowers!
Promote Equity and Inclusivity by providing support for ALL LEARNERS regardless of age, ability or background, and giving every student a VOICE! Give them a tool that will help them to TELL THEIR STORY.
Discourse is a Missing Link In Literacy Instruction!
The Story Grammar Marker® Approach is rooted in the DISCOURSE Level of Language Development.
Click below to learn more about the building blocks of language and literacy.
In 1991, based on years of research and experience, Maryellen Rooney Moreau, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, pioneered the idea of designing meaningful symbols “icons” to represent the components of story grammar that make up the episode of a story.
She created a powerful tool that children can hold in their hands to tell a story. When it worked so well for one 3rd grader, it was field-tested by speech pathologists & reading specialists in a private school on a college campus. Word of its success with a neurodivergent population brought the Story Grammar Marker® Approach to the attention of public school programs, and has become widely used in general education classrooms as well! It is now in use in 36 countries across the globe.
In 2014, Maryellen was recognized for her professional work as creator of the Story Grammar Marker® Approach and related methodology, and as the founder of MindWing Concepts, Inc., when she became the 2014 recipient of the Alice H. Garside Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Dyslexia Association, Massachusetts Branch.
People learn best from others, so we thought you’d like to hear from others who have used and support the SGM® Approach to teach reading comprehension and critical thinking.
“Scientists have long known that human beings are storytelling creatures. For centuries, we have told stories to transmit information, share histories, and teach important lessons. While stories often have a profound effect on us due to emotional content, recent research also shows that our brains are actually hard-wired to seek out a coherent narrative structure in the stories we hear and tell. This structure helps us absorb the information in a story, and connect it with our own experiences in the world.” Scientific Learning. (2012, June 14). Using Stories to Teach: How Narrative Structure Helps Students Learn [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://34.211.105.222/blog/using-stories-teach-how-narrative-structure-helps-students-learn
12 Lessons to Begin Using the Story Grammar Marker®
Tool Tuesday: Scribblenauts!
Lately, I’ve been coming back to an oldie-but-goodie resource, SCRIBBLENAUTS (“Remix” version available for iPad or iPhone for $.99 with tons of content, other options explored below). Scribblenauts is a puzzle game where players can type in upwards of 20,000 nouns, even with adjective modifiers, to bring in objects that help solve stated problems within the scene. As such, it provides an open-ended “sandbox” with a range of stories solvable with actions and elaborated noun phrases. I like to think of Scribblenauts as a series of mini-lessons, one of those 5-10 min “rewards” for students that are actually language therapy activities...
Tool Tuesday: “What is this Feeling?”
Wicked has become an almost-too-inescapable cultural juggernaut thanks to tie-ins with everything from Xfinity to the OPI nail polish (Ozitively Elphaba) that my ugly toenails will soon be sporting. However, I’ve been a huge fan of the musical since its arrival in 2003 and have been happy to capitalize on my knowledge of it with some of my students. In any case, students’ interests, including current movies, can provide great context for story analysis (macro), as well as many micro targets from vocabulary to social cognition...
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The Holiday Hustle: Finding Time for Meaningful Holiday-Themed Story Grammar Marker® Lessons
From twinkling lights and festive decor to excited students counting down the days, there's an undeniable energy that fills the classroom this time of year. As teachers, SLPs, specialists, and parents, though, the holidays often come with “double dip” feelings of—joy and stress, combined with the hustle of balancing lessons, holiday events, and end-of-year tasks. Amidst it all, it’s easy to feel like you’re racing against the clock. But what if you could slow things down just enough to create meaningful holiday-themed learning experiences?
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Tool Tuesday: The story of creating an AI-generated story!
Continuing on an artificial intelligence (AI) track this month, I was curious recently whether any tools have surfaced that specifically relate to creating stories. Creating a story about a timely, curriculum-related, or personally relevant topic is, of course, an activity that can create a great context for analyzing the result with Story Grammar Marker® and applying its icons to language mapping. AI tools are also fun to play around WITH students and can be used metalinguistically with prompts to the tool to use specific story elements...
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