MindWing Concepts Blog

In working with SLPs, teachers, other professionals and graduate students around the myriad ways I find Story Grammar Marker® useful in intervention, I often emphasize how narrative is at the crux of language functioning and social cognition. This post will explore this idea with an eye toward the concept of situational awareness, an area we can look at as critical for many of our students with social learning challenges--an appropriate topic for May as it is Better Speech and Hearing Month!

In their article, Social Learning and Social Functioning: Social Thinking's Cascade of Social Functioning, Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke describe how awareness of situations serves as the foundation of interactions. Social functioning can then be considered a "cascade" of additional skills such as self-awareness within a situation (and understanding of one's own possible role in the ongoing situation) and abstracting and interpreting the ongoing language and actions of others.

To kick off Better Hearing and Speech Month we wanted to share MindWing Concepts’ Pragmatics Chart and Pragmatics Poster. We also suggest a wonderful book to use in conjunction with the chart and poster for lessons on the social uses of language; including body language, tone of voice as well as listening and speaking skills, which are a large part of the Common Core State Standards. This book is Decibella and Her 6-Inch Voice by Julia Cook (Author), Anita Du Falla (Illustrator). The ideas and illustrations are perfect for Better Hearing and Speech Month because they focus on speaking (and listening) skills!

Read the book to the students. Review the character map and the categories with the children. Reread Flossie to the children having them listen to details to use on the Character Map. Pair the children and give them the Character Map to complete. Have them write the character’s name under the character icon.

With the students participating, complete the Character Map with the class showing the pictures and/or reading the text that relate to the each section of the map. This book lends itself very well to this activity as the text is simple and illustrations are wonderful. We have used this activity with students in K-3, modified according to the needs of the grade level.

Below are two samples from second grade students.

During National Autism Awareness Month, we have been using text and illustrations of the picture book Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch to enhance our teaching of feelings using the SGM heart icon, Feelings mini poster, and newly created maps. This is the final post of the Mr. Hatch series.

After completing these activities, older students may enjoy using the same Feelings template we began this blog with and a You Tube presentation of The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan. Click here to watch The Lost Thing...

Our last blog focused on Mr. Hatch’s feelings in response to three separate kick-offs from Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch.

We used the new Feelings/Kick-Off Map (below) and looked at the back of the Feelings mini-poster for an additional activity that would lend itself to a center activity. Our goal is to develop an understanding of the relationship between the kick-off and feelings of characters that ultimately leads to an awareness of the critical thinking triangle, which motivates the actions of characters. Today, we will expand on our feelings activities...

Earth Day is honored around the world on April 22 for the purpose of shining a light on environmental programs and fostering community activism through a variety of different events and activities. Earth Day is the largest civic event in the world! It is celebrated around the globe by people of all cultures, backgrounds, and nationalities. More than a billion people participate in Earth Day Festivities each year. Up here in New England, it is 70 degrees today (although we still have patches of snow on the ground!!) but the warm weather reminded us that Earth Day will be here before we know it!

Earth Day is a great occasion to introduce the book entitled Winston of Churchill: One Bear's Battle Against Global Warming by Jean Davies Okimoto (Author) and Jeremiah Trammell (Illustrator). This picture book is a combination of narrative and expository text structures. The narrative, or story, is about polar bears planning a protest against environmental factors negatively affecting their habitat in Churchill, Canada. It contains all narrative elements of story grammar as well as perspective taking.