Adapting for Comprehension

Use visual strategies to teach story retelling, sequencing and comprehension.

1. Take digital photos from picture pages in target books. Use images that are significant for retelling and sequencing the story.
2. Print a short sentence of what was occurring in each picture.
3. Structure the activity by printing a square to fit the pictures with sentences. Number each square on the manila folder 1 through however many there is for that particular story
4. After reading the story, randomly place the images with sentences.
5. Encourage the student to place the pictures/sentences in order and let the child retell the story.
6. Once learned, fade the prompts and let the student retell the story.
Variation: Make up your own stories or personal events by taking digital photos

Another great visual idea to teach comprehension

1. Take digital photos from picture pages in target books focusing on the characters. For example, one story may have five animal characters-dog, cat, duck, frog and toad.
2. Lay out the character images. Read each page and ask the question in the card. For example, "Who was swimming in the pond?" Encourage the child to find the correct picture.
3. Complete the book together and once the child is comfortable, fade the prompts
4. You can learn other questions as well, where, what, etc

Other variations: Have word cards to choose from instead of pictures