Problem-Solution Narrative
Generate a narrative organized around a clear problem and resolution.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Ask for the problem and the solution as separate steps. Naming the problem first sounds redundant and is not — students frequently jump to a solution that does not address what actually went wrong. Then ask how the character felt, which is the missing third element in most narratives at this level. Twelve minutes covers two or three prompts properly.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
- ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.
Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.
Matching IEP goal
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.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Ten story prompts that each start with trouble: a boy loses his dog at the park; a girl breaks her friend's toy; a class runs out of art supplies before a project; a boy is being teased at recess; the team's only ball goes over the fence; two friends want the same seat on the bus; a kid gets lost at the grocery store. Every prompt supplies the complication, which is the element students most often leave out of their own stories.
What to listen for
Listen for solutions that resolve the problem rather than ending the story. He went home ends the story about the lost dog without solving anything, and students accept it because it stops. Watch the teasing and the shared-seat prompts, which are social problems with no physical solution — those require negotiation and are considerably harder than a lost object.
Carrying it home
Real problems in a day are story material. Asking what the problem was and how it got sorted out, at dinner, is the same structure applied to something the child cares about.
What's in this activity
- A boy loses his dog at the park. What is the problem? How is it solved?
- A girl breaks her friend's toy.
- A class runs out of art supplies before a project.
- A boy is being teased at recess.
- A girl forgets her lunch at home.
- The team's only ball goes over the fence.
- A student can't reach the book on the top shelf.
- Two friends want the same seat on the bus.
- The bike chain comes off halfway to school.
- A kid gets lost at the grocery store.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Second through fifth, for narrative structure work.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all ten prompts play with no account.
- Why supply the problem rather than let the student invent one?
- Because inventing a complication is the hardest part of narrative for most students. Supplying it lets all the effort go into the response and the resolution, which is where the structure is learned.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.