CJ6 causal conjunct so

You will need:

• Pairs of cause and effect pictures or toys to create target sentences. The effect must be the second action in the sequence, e.g. empty cupboard (picture 1); mum shopping (picture 2) or high ramp (picture 1); car going fast (picture 2).

App settings:  Default

Intervention steps:

Note: Use simple past/present tenses throughout, depending on the child’s skill in this area.

1. Present the first image/part of a scenario and ask the learner to make a sentence to describe it/say what is happening, e.g. “The cupboard is empty”.  (Make sure this will work as the first clause with ‘so’).

Write this on the LH side of the page/board.

2. Present the second image/part of a scenario and ask the learner to make a sentence to describe it / say what is happening, e.g. “Mum is going shopping”. (Make sure this will work as the second clause with ‘so’).

Write this on the RH side of the page/board. Use symbols to support literacy if needed.

3. Explain that we can join these two sentences together because they are linked. “One makes the other to happen”. Introduce the word ‘so’  with a gesture (e.g. a two handed fist roll) to represent the concept of ‘rolling on / knock on effect’.  Write the word ‘so’ between the 2 sentences and model it:

“The cupboard is empty so Mum is going shopping”.

4. Repeat multiple times with other pairs of clauses. Keep the sentence patterns as similar as possible, e.g.:

The hamster is ill. Sam is taking it to the vet.

The boy is bored. He is playing on his phone.

The lady is late. She is running for the bus.

You may find that the learner doesn’t use reference/change pronouns accurately in the second clause, e.g. “The hamster is ill so Sam is taking the hamster to the vet”. Allow this, and recast the whole sentence as needed.

5. You could print/cut up the pairs of sentences used and present these for consolidation at the end of the session or to review ‘so‘ at the start of the next one. Ask the learner to find the pairs and sequence them accurately, placing a ‘so’ card between them.

Match up clauses to make sensible sentences example here

Finish given sentences using a ‘so’ example here.

If they make sequencing errors, such as: “Mum is shopping so the cupboard is empty”, give the child explicit feedback, e.g. “Yes, you have found two parts that link together, but which happens first?  This must be the first part of our long sentence. Switch them around and join them with ‘so'”.

If the child uses ‘and‘,  give the child explicit feedback, e.g. “Yes, you have found two parts that link together and joined them together with ‘and’. Can you think of another way of joining them to show that one leads to the other? Try joining them with ‘so'”.  Use modelling/imitation to elicit the target response.

6. Practise in other tenses and within real-life, e.g. practical activities during Science lessons.

7. When the child demonstrates understanding of the correct clause sequence for ‘so‘ and produces sentences in the correct sequence with 80% accuracy, you could contrast it with because (AD1) .