Creative writing is a form of personal expression through a written medium, which is why it is one of the most elemental and important forms of communication. However, for many people, it presents endless difficulties. Writing is a very different process from the act of speaking, the main difference between speaking and writing being that speaking is highly interactive, while when writing, we only interact with paper or the computer.
Writing
“Creative writing is that, whether fiction or not, which overflows the boundaries of professional, journalistic, academic, and technical writing. In this mode of writing, creativity takes precedence over the informative purpose characteristic of non-literary writing” (García, 2011). This activity allows children’s imagination and creativity to flow, stimulating their ability to create original and innovative ideas. And, of course, it follows a series of steps, as to write a story, children have to choose the topic they are going to write about, select vocabulary related to the topic, organize and filter all the information and ideas generated. Afterwards, they must put it on paper following the rules of grammar and syntax, respecting spelling rules and punctuation marks. Finally, once the story is written, it must be reviewed and given a title.
Activities
In this sense, in addition to working on creativity and formal elements, language aspects such as lexical access, discourse planning and organization, and expression are being worked on. The training for speech-language pathologists, such as ISEP’s Master in Speech-Language Pathology Assessment and Intervention, includes creative writing as a tool to improve communication and language. That is why, as speech-language pathologists, we must have ideas to encourage this type of activity with our patients. A good way to break the ice to introduce young creators is to use suggestions that awaken their imagination and desire to express themselves. Below, I leave you with some ideas:
Dice: dice with images are rolled, and children have to write a story in which those images appear.
Cards: prepare a group of cards with unrelated words written on them. The activity starts by drawing a card, and children have to begin writing according to that word; later, another card is drawn, and the new word must be incorporated into the story.
Exchangeable Stories: this activity is done in pairs. Each person is given a sheet to start writing. After a while, the sheets are exchanged, and they have to continue the other person’s story. It can be repeated as many times as desired.
Scenes: photos with different scenes are presented to be incorporated into the story. Another variant is to show them photographs or drawings of landscapes, animals, people… this can be an interesting source of inspiration that creates connections between what they see, what they feel, and what they imagine before putting it on paper.
Propose a sentence to start the story. Something as simple as “One summer morning…”; “During my last vacation…”, etc.
Suggest certain words (rain, red, dog, sock, etc.) that must be included in a text of a certain number of lines.
Use a daily life theme and describe it: how they get to school, what their room is like, what they do during recess, how they spend their afternoons, what their pet is like, if they have a favorite place…
Take a story known by everyone, a folk tale, a comic strip, or a proverb, for example, and write a variant. The speech-language pathologist can also select a short text, which they will read aloud as a form of inspiration for the children.
Read a poem aloud and ask them to describe what it suggests to them.
Create a self-portrait with words.
Go on an outing to a park, the beach, a library, or a museum. Each child will write down what they see and other observations in a notebook, which they will later use to write a personal essay about the visit.
The Master in Speech-Language Pathology provides speech-language pathologists with practical knowledge to consolidate their understanding and gain confidence in clinical practice and educational intervention. The acquired knowledge will allow for a correct evaluation of language and communication to subsequently generate programs adapted to each patient.