Understanding Stories

Stories vary in how easy they are for children to understand. Each brochure suggests
books that are at a similar level of difficulty, from the easiest – number 1, to the most
difficult – number 6. Share books with the child from the brochure that best matches their
understanding of stories.

1: Simple Descriptions


For 0-3 year olds of preschool children with language difficulties.
Stories at this level have a topic or theme which may be about actions, like going to bed, characters, like a pirate or tell about a topic such as a season. These stories tend to be simple and are great for talking about how the children’s own experiences relate to what happened in the book.

2: Sequences


For 2-4 year olds or children in Junior primary who have language difficulties.
These stories have a clear sequence of events that lead to a simple conclusion. Sharing these stories with children will help them learn how events occur in order, one after another.

3: Cause-Effect


For 3-4 year old children and children in Junior Primary who have language difficulties.
These stories help children understand and learn about how problems cause something to happen and what happens as a result, which is called “cause and effect”.

4: Characters with Goals


For Preschool or Reception children or older children with language difficulties.
The problem is important in these stories and the main character wants to solve the problem. This leads them to do something about the problem until it is solved or fixed.

5: Characters with Plans


For Junior Primary children or older children with language difficulties
The main character makes a plan – they think of a way to try to get what they want. This makes it clear that if a charterer is to get what they want a plan is important. These stories promote thinking skills, problem solving and understanding of more complex stories.

6: Taking Another’s Point of View


For Junior Primary children or older children with language difficulties.
Taking another’s point of view is an important social or “getting along” skill. Some books show this very well – something happens and two sides of the story are shown. The thoughts, feelings and actions of characters are explained which helps the reader understand why the characters behave the way that they do.