Summarizing Text with Graphic Organizers – Freebie!

Reading comprehension is a skill that we are constantly working on with our students that have speech and language disorders, and one of those very important comprehension skills is summarizing. This was a huge struggle for the students on my caseload because it's not just tapping into struggles with receptive language, but also expressive.

Luckily, we have some research that tells us that using graphic organizers are helpful to improve skills. We do have to make sure that our students are engaged with these resources, not just watching someone else fill them out. They should be completing them on their own, with scaffolded support as needed.

For summarizing skills, it's important to be able to identify the main idea and key details. To start with this, I like using short text, like in these passages. With highlighters in hand, we find the topic and conclusion sentences to determine the main idea. Then, we look for the important details that support that idea.

Another helpful strategy to use is the 5 WH question words to summarize information. This is especially helpful if students have to put together a written or oral presentation of their summary. This type of graphic organizer is usually more helpful with narratives.

Want to grab two free graphic organizers for summaries? Click HERE

What are some helpful strategies you've found for working on summarizing information? Share in the comments!