Sequencing and retelling are where narrative work starts. Before a student can tell a story with a problem, a plan and a resolution, they need to put three events in order and join them with something better than "and then… and then… and then." This guide moves through that progression — ordering steps, narrating a sequence, retelling a story, then building one — with a free browser activity at each stage.
For the theory behind it (story grammar, single- versus multi-episode stories, narrative assessment), see the companion guide to narrative language therapy. This one is about what to put in front of the student on Monday.
Stage 1: Put the Steps in Order
Begin with events the student already knows the order of, so the only new demand is the language. Everyday routines are ideal. Put It in Order: Planting a Seed has five steps from digging a hole to waiting for a sprout. Story Sequencing — 4 Steps uses a school-day routine (woke up, ate breakfast, went to school, came home), and Story Sequencing — 6 Steps stretches the same routine to six events.
Ordering is not the goal on its own. Once the cards are in place, have the student say the sequence aloud, pointing at each card. That turns a sorting task into a speaking one, and it is the speaking you are measuring.
Stage 2: Narrate the Sequence with Connectives
Temporal words — first, next, then, last — are the glue of a retell. Picture Sequence Narration gives ten three-step sequences built for exactly those words: first the boy woke up, next he ate breakfast, then he went to school. For students who are ready for more, Six-Frame Stories: Narrate the Sequence puts six events on each card and asks for one connected story using because, so, then and at last.
Drawing helps students who lose track of the order. Retell and Draw: First, Next, Last has three mini-stories the student draws in order and then retells from their own pictures, and Draw the Steps: Everyday Routines does the same for procedures like brushing teeth.
Stage 3: Retell a Story
A retell asks the student to reproduce a story they have just heard, which lets you compare what they said with what was there. Narrative Retell — Short Story tells a seven-picture story (Maya wakes to snow, builds a snowman, cannot find a nose, and her mum brings a carrot) and then asks for three retells. Story Retelling — Familiar Tale uses stories many children already know — The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks, The Tortoise and the Hare — which lowers the memory load and lets you focus on structure.
Story Retell: Tell It Back in Order varies the retell itself: five sentences, then one; from the character's point of view; even backwards. Those variations are a quick way to check whether a student understands the story or has memorized the words.
Stage 4: Map the Story Grammar
Once retells are in order, check whether they are complete. Story Grammar Mapping asks younger students four questions — who is in the story, where it happens, what the problem is, how it was fixed — and Story Grammar Elements names all eight parts from character to ending. Story Grammar Map: Character, Setting, Problem, Solution has older students draw each element and retell the whole story from the drawings.
Stage 5: Generate a Story
Generation removes the model. Wordless Book Narration steps through who and where, what the problem is and what the character decides, then asks for the whole story without stopping. Problem-Solution Narrative gives ten story starters built around a problem (a boy loses his dog at the park), and Personal Narrative: Tell Me What Happened asks about the student's own experiences — a time they got hurt, a plan that fell apart. Personal narratives are the kind of story students tell in everyday conversation, which makes them a good carryover target.
For secondary students, Timeline It: Sequencing a News Story applies the same ordering skill to informational text: put the events in order, mark where the article starts, and work out what must have happened before.
Taking Data on Retells
- Score elements, not words. List the story grammar parts in the original and tick the ones the student included, in order.
- Count connectives. Note whether the student used first / next / then / last or because / so, or joined everything with and.
- Record your prompts. "What happened next?" is a prompt; a retell that needed three of them is not the same as one that needed none.
- Keep a sample. An audio recording or a transcribed retell each grading period makes progress visible to parents and the IEP team. The language sample analysis guide covers how to analyze one.
Sequencing and Retell IEP Goals
The activity pages above carry matching goals. Two that cover most of this progression:
- Given a picture or story prompt, Student will put events in order and retell them using first, next, then and last in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.
- Given a picture or story prompt, Student will tell a story that includes a character, setting, problem and ending in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.
More narrative goal examples are in language IEP goals. In SLPDesk, the marks you take under each board save to the student's goal, so the retell data you collect in a session is already in the progress report when the IEP meeting comes around.