Express and Impress Language Group Therapy
Express and Impress is BSP’s Saturday narrative skills language group therapy, where small groups of children work with a speech pathologist to build the story grammar they need to retell an event, explain what happened at school, or tell a story that actually makes sense to the person listening. If your child talks in full sentences but you find yourself constantly asking “wait, who did what?” — or their teacher mentions their news-time stories are hard to follow — this group is built for exactly that gap.
What does the Express and Impress language group therapy actually work on?
Every session is built around story grammar: the structural elements that make a narrative easy to follow, including character, setting, problem, and resolution. Narrative intervention research shows that when children are explicitly taught these story elements — using visual supports, story starters, and guided retelling — they improve not just their storytelling but also their vocabulary and their general ability to organise thoughts before speaking (Petersen & Spencer, in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Narrative Intervention: Principles to Practice). This matters well beyond “telling a good story.” Narrative skill underpins how children explain their day to a teacher, describe an incident to a parent, and eventually write recounts once they hit primary school.
For bilingual children specifically, narrative skill is a particularly useful area to target in a group setting. A child might have plenty to say but find it harder to sequence and organise that content clearly in one or both of their languages — especially if most of their exposure to structured storytelling so far has happened in only one language. Group therapy gives them a low-pressure space to practise organising a spoken story out loud, get real-time feedback from a speech pathologist, and hear how their peers structure their own retells too, in English, Cantonese, or Mandarin.
Why does this work better in a language group therapy than one-on-one?
A narrative only really means something when someone else is listening and following along. In Express and Impress, children take turns telling and listening to stories from their peers, which gives them an authentic audience and immediate, natural feedback on whether their story made sense — something individual therapy can’t fully recreate. They also get to hear how other children in the group structure their own retells, which reinforces the target story grammar without it ever feeling like a lesson. This peer-modelling effect is one of the reasons group formats are used so widely alongside individual therapy rather than instead of it.
Sessions run for 60 minutes on Saturdays at our Blackburn clinic, in small groups with a therapist-to-child ratio that keeps every child supported and actively involved rather than sitting on the sidelines. The cost is $150 per session, and groups can be run in English, Cantonese, or Mandarin depending on the children enrolled.
Who tends to benefit from this language group therapy?
We typically see children join Express and Impress when a parent notices their child’s stories jump around, skip key information, or leave a teacher, grandparent, or friend lost halfway through — even though the child clearly has plenty to say and a good vocabulary. It also suits children who are already working on narrative goals in individual speech therapy and are ready to practise those skills with peers, as well as children who are strong day-to-day communicators but haven’t yet had explicit teaching in how to structure a story from start to finish.
Before your child joins, we run a short intake call with the group’s leading therapist to make sure they’re placed with peers working on similar goals. This isn’t a formality — it’s what makes sure your child feels comfortable, capable, and supported from the very first session rather than out of their depth.
Is this the right next step for my child?
If your child talks well but their stories are hard to follow, Express and Impress may be a strong next step — either alongside individual speech therapy or as a standalone group, depending on what else is going on for them. You can browse all of our current group therapy programs or speak with one of our speech pathologists about whether a group or individual sessions are the better starting point right now.
To enquire about a spot in Express and Impress, fill in our service request form and our team will be in touch to talk through the right group for your child, in English, Cantonese, or Mandarin.
This article is for general education only and is not a substitute for individualised clinical advice from a qualified speech pathologist.
「敘事表達」（Express and Impress）小組是甚麼？能幫助孩子把故事說得更清楚嗎？
「Express and Impress敘事表達小組」是本中心於星期六舉辦的敘事技巧小組，由言語治療師帶領一小組兒童,學習組織故事所需的「故事文法」，讓孩子能夠覆述事件、講述在學校發生的事情，或說一個聽者真正能理解的故事。如果你的孩子說話時已能用完整句子，但你經常要問「等等，究竟是誰做了甚麼？」——又或者老師提到孩子在「分享時間」講的故事難以理解——這個小組正是為了填補這個缺口而設。
「Express and Impress」小組具體訓練甚麼？
每節課堂都圍繞「故事文法」（story grammar）——即令敘事容易理解的結構元素，包括人物、場景、問題及解決方法。有關敘事介入的研究顯示，當兒童透過視覺提示、故事開端及引導式覆述，被明確教授這些故事元素時，他們不但能改善敘事能力，詞彙量及組織思維的能力亦會提升（Petersen & Spencer，刊於美國言語語言聽覺協會（ASHA）的《敘事介入：從原則到實踐》）。這遠遠不止是「說個好故事」這麼簡單——敘事能力是孩子向老師講述當天發生的事、向家長描述事件，甚至日後在小學撰寫記敘文的基礎。
對雙語兒童而言，敘事能力更是小組訓練特別值得着力的範疇。孩子可能想說的話很多，但要在其中一種或兩種語言中清楚地整理、排列內容,卻並不容易——尤其如果孩子至今接觸有系統敘事訓練的機會，大多只限於其中一種語言。小組治療為孩子提供一個沒有壓力的環境，讓他們練習把口述故事組織清楚，即時得到言語治療師的回饋，同時聆聽組內同伴以英語、廣東話或普通話講述故事的方式。
為何小組形式比一對一治療更有效？
敘事只有在有人聆聽並跟上內容時，才真正有意義。在「Express and Impress」小組中，孩子輪流講述及聆聽同伴的故事，這給予他們真實的聽眾，並即時、自然地得知自己的故事是否清晰易明——這是個別治療難以完全做到的。孩子亦能從中聽到組內其他兒童如何組織自己的覆述，從而在毫無「上堂」感覺的情況下，鞏固所學的故事文法。這種同伴模仿的效果，正是小組形式常被用作個別治療的補充（而非取代）的原因之一。
小組於星期六在本中心（Blackburn）進行，每節60分鐘，小組人數少，治療師與兒童比例維持在能充分照顧每位孩子的水平。費用為每節$150，小組可以英語、廣東話或普通話進行，視乎組內兒童的語言背景而定。
哪些孩子較適合參加這個小組？
我們發現，當家長留意到孩子講故事時內容跳躍、遺漏關鍵資訊，令老師、長輩或朋友聽到一半便摸不着頭腦——即使孩子明顯有很多話想說、詞彙量亦不錯——便是考慮讓孩子加入「Express and Impress」的時機。這個小組亦適合正在個別言語治療中訓練敘事目標、準備好與同伴一起練習的孩子，以及日常溝通能力強，但尚未接受過如何從頭到尾組織故事的明確教導的孩子。
孩子加入小組前，我們會由帶組治療師進行簡短的入組電話評估，確保孩子與目標相近的同伴同組。這並非形式上的程序——而是確保孩子從第一節開始，就感到自在、有能力並得到充分支援。
這是否適合我的孩子的下一步？
如果你的孩子說話能力不錯，但故事內容難以理解，「Express and Impress」可能是一個有力的下一步——可以配合個別言語治療進行，亦可作為獨立小組參加，視乎孩子目前的其他情況而定。你可以瀏覽我們目前所有的小組治療課程，或向我們的言語治療師查詢，了解小組還是個別治療是目前較合適的起點。
如欲查詢「Express and Impress」的名額，請填寫我們的服務申請表格，我們的團隊將以英語、廣東話或普通話與你聯絡，商討最適合孩子的小組。
本文僅供一般教育參考之用，不能取代合資格言語治療師的個別臨床意見。