Matt and Molly Stories

In my work with students who have Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), I have had to become pretty creative with how I work on skills.  My students crave repetition, and do learn from repetition and visual strategies.  Matt and Molly stories from Linguisystems are a great way for me to work on story sequencing, yes/no questions regarding stories, and 'wh' questions.

Matt and Molly stories are very simple four picture stories.  The vocabulary is simple.  There are typically only two characters (Matt and Molly) and possibly another animal.  In some of the socially themed stories there are one or two other characters, but they are not named (listed as "friend"). 

When I work on a Matt and Molly story, I start by presenting each picture and reading the sentences that go with that picture. 

Then, I have the student place the sentence cards under the pictures.  Depending on their reading ability, I may read the card, or have the student read the card. 

I then ask my yes/no questions.  Sometimes I bring out a visual yes/no board.  Sometimes, these seem to be the toughest questions.  I have so many students who just say "yes" to every question. 

Next, I ask the "wh" questions.  Some of my students are able to answer questions without choices, however many of them need some choices.  I always work on fading back on offering the choices, but have them ready just in case.  For this story, I have my choice of two answers for each question written out on an index card for future use.

After the questions, I may take away the sentence strips and see if the student can retell the story.  This is also when I may take away the picture cards, mix them up, and then see if the student can put them back in the correct order and retell the story.

I really like using really simple stories like these with my students with ASD.  I have been known to draw my own line people and make up stories about them.  It is a quick, visual way to work on some simple story retelling, and auditory comprehension skills.