"So what happened at school today?" For some kids, that question opens the floodgates. For others, you get "I don't know," or a jumble of details that's hard to follow: a friend's name, something about a ball, and then the ending before the beginning. Telling a story, whether it's a made-up tale or what happened at recess, is called narrative language. It's a skill that quietly supports conversation, friendships, and later reading and writing. This post explains what narrative skills are, how they typically develop, and what researchers say about how they connect to reading.
What are narrative skills, exactly?
A narrative is simply a story: a fictional one, or a true account of something that happened. Researchers describe telling one well as harder than it looks. In the words of one study in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, "Telling a coherent narrative, whether it be the construction of a fictional story or the relating of a personal account, is a complex, higher-level task that draws upon multiple linguistic and cognitive skills."[3]
To tell a story, a child has to pull together vocabulary, grammar, and the social side of language. The same authors note that telling a meaningful story "necessarily draws upon linguistic knowledge and skills, including lexical and semantic, morphological, syntactic, and pragmatic knowledge."[3] Stories also have a structure, often described in terms of "story grammar units, such as setting, characters, conflict, and resolution."[3]
Another paper describes what the storyteller has to manage: "When a person tells a story, they should choose those elements and details which are more important, they must keep the attention of the interlocutor, and they must be capable of making inferences from their knowledge of the world."[5] That's a lot to juggle at once, which is why storytelling can reveal language difficulties that don't show up in short answers.
When do children usually start telling stories?
The CDC's developmental milestones give a rough picture of early storytelling. By 4 years, the CDC lists milestones such as "Says some words from a song, story, or nursery rhyme" and "Talks about at least one thing that happened during her day, like 'I played soccer.'"[2]
By 5 years, one of the CDC's language milestones is that a child "Tells a story she heard or made up with at least two events. For example, a cat was stuck in a tree and a firefighter saved it." Another is that a child "Answers simple questions about a book or story after you read or tell it to him."[1]
Storytelling doesn't stop developing in kindergarten. Researchers note that "Narratives continue to develop over the years, including in adolescence," with stories gaining more episodes and more complex connections between them, including emotions.[5]
What does it look like when a child struggles with storytelling?
Every child tells a muddled story sometimes, especially when tired or excited. A pattern is different. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) lists "Disorganized storytelling and writing" among the signs that are common in older children and adults with developmental language disorder (DLD), which NIDCD defines as "a communication disorder that interferes with learning, understanding, and using language."[6]
Research comparing children with and without language difficulties points in the same direction. One study, summarizing earlier research, reports that "A consistent finding across these studies is that children who exhibit difficulties with language also perform poorly on narrative retelling tasks."[3] Another paper summarizes studies finding that children with DLD tend to produce stories with "limited vocabulary, shorter and grammatically less complex sentences" and "fewer scenes, events, episodes and characters" and less organization and coherence than their peers.[5]
In everyday life, parents sometimes notice things like:
- Stories that skip the beginning, jump around in time, or leave out who was involved
- Heavy reliance on "and then... and then..." without explaining why things happened
- Trouble retelling a favorite book or movie, even one the child knows well
- Difficulty answering "what happened next?" or "why did they do that?" about a story
These are examples, not a checklist. None of them on its own means a child has a language disorder, and only a qualified professional can tell you whether your child's skills are where they should be. If you're unsure about the difference between understanding language and using it, our post on receptive vs. expressive language may help.
Is storytelling connected to reading?
Researchers have long been interested in this question. Khan and colleagues write that "narrative skill is theorized to function as a bridge between oral language and early reading."[3] Note the word "theorized": this is an idea researchers are still testing, not a settled rule.
There is some supporting evidence. A long-term study of kindergartners followed into eighth grade describes a group of older students called "poor comprehenders," who can read the words but struggle to understand them. According to the authors, these children "generally display good phonological skills, but show difficulty on measures of broader language skills, including syntax, semantic, and narrative tasks."[4] The same study found that "different combinations of variables were required to optimally predict second versus eighth grade reading impairments."[4] In other words, no single kindergarten skill tells the whole story, and narrative ability is one piece among several, alongside skills like vocabulary, grammar, and phonological awareness.
If your child can sound out words but doesn't seem to understand what they read, our post on when kids can read the words but don't understand them goes into more detail.
How can I support storytelling at home?
The CDC's tips for parents of 5-year-olds include several ideas that naturally build storytelling:[1]
- "Read to your child. Ask questions, such as 'What is happening in the picture?' and 'What do you think will happen next?'"
- "Encourage your child to 'read' by looking at the pictures and telling the story."
- "Ask your child what she is playing. Help her expand her answers by asking 'Why?' and 'How?'"
- "Read books and talk about the feelings characters have and why they have them."
- "Eat meals with your child and enjoy family time talking together."
Retelling may be especially useful. One paper notes that "The retelling of stories could be a good strategy for facilitating the development of the narrative structure because it allows the child to reorganize the information as he tells it."[5] At home, that can be as simple as asking your child to tell a grandparent about a book you read together, or to explain the plot of a show to a sibling.
From the CDC: "Don't wait. If your child is not meeting one or more milestones, has lost skills he or she once had, or you have other concerns, act early. Talk with your child's doctor, share your concerns, and ask about developmental screening."[1]
Who can evaluate my child's narrative skills?
NIDCD explains that if "a doctor, teacher, or parent suspects that a child has DLD, a speech-language pathologist (a professional trained to assess and treat people with speech or language problems) can evaluate the child's language skills."[6] Researchers use several kinds of tasks to look at narratives, including retelling a story and telling a personal or made-up one, and they look both at the words and sentences a child uses and at the overall organization of the story.[5]
On treatment, NIDCD says that "Early treatment during the preschool years can improve the skills of many children with language delays, including those with DLD," and that people "can benefit from treatment regardless of when it begins."[6] Research specifically on narrative intervention is more limited. One paper notes that "intervention programs in narrative skills are also scarce," while citing a review that found improvements in the narratives of preschool and school-age children with language difficulties after narrative intervention.[5] Every child is different, and results vary.
If you'd like a closer look at your child's language, you can learn about our speech and language evaluations and language therapy.
The bottom line
Storytelling is more than a fun bedtime activity. It draws on vocabulary, grammar, organization, and social understanding all at once, and researchers think it may help bridge talking and reading. By around age 5, the CDC expects many children to tell a simple story with at least two events. If your child's stories are consistently hard to follow, or you have other concerns about their language, talk with your pediatrician or a speech-language pathologist.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.). Milestones by 5 Years. CDC, Learn the Signs. Act Early..
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.). Milestones by 4 Years. CDC, Learn the Signs. Act Early..
- Khan, K. S., Logan, J., Justice, L. M., Bowles, R. P., & Piasta, S. B. (2021). The Contribution of Vocabulary, Grammar, and Phonological Awareness Across a Continuum of Narrative Ability Levels in Young Children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (via PubMed Central).
- Adlof, S. M., Catts, H. W., & Lee, J. (2010). Kindergarten Predictors of Second vs. Eighth Grade Reading Comprehension Impairments. Journal of Learning Disabilities (via PubMed Central).
- Iuliu, I., & Martínez, V. (2021). Oral Narrative Intervention by Tele-Practice in a Case with Developmental Language Disorder. Children (Basel) (via PubMed Central).
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (n.d.). Developmental Language Disorder. NIDCD, National Institutes of Health.
Articles from Speech Me Therapy, a pediatric speech-language therapy practice in North Phoenix serving Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and families across Arizona by telehealth. Our posts summarize published guidance from professional and public health organizations; sources are listed at the end of every article.