NP7 possessive pronoun + noun vs. possessive demonstrative

App settings:  Turn on feminine markers

Intervention steps:

1. Establish the student understands that things belong to people by using a sorting activity, e.g. sorting out a pile of equipment or clothes.
2. Show that we can say who they belong to by using special pink words that need a red word with them in the oval or rectangle (e.g. my/your/his/her) or by using a special red word that can stand on its own in an oval or rectangle (e.g. mine/yours/his/hers).
3. Introduce the target possessive pronouns for the session, e.g. my, your, his and her coding/symbol. For large font possessive pronoun words in pink, click here. For templates including possessive pronouns and showing contrast with red words, click here.

4. Check understanding that:

• My = belongs to person talking,
• Your = belongs to other person present,
• His = belongs to a male identifiable by both speaker and listener,
• Her = belongs to a female identifiable by both speaker and listener. If the child makes gender errors, used dashed lines under female nouns like girl and pronouns, e.g. her/hers.

5. Lay out photos or figures (e.g. student, self and a random fe/male, Meera/Fred) and give each one an item that differs only by colour or size, e.g. a red hat, a blue hat and a green hat.

Show coding for example sentence pattern, e.g.: “I/you/Fred have/has a blue hat.”

and the target possessive pronoun pattern, e.g. “My/your/his/her hat is blue”.

Explain that the pink word changes depending on who has/owns the hat (it does not change according to the red word as in some languages!). Practise creating sentences such as: 

• Fred has a blue hat. His hat is blue.
• I have a red hat. My hat is red.
• You have a black hat. Your hat is black.

You can do this on the app, or orally in response to blank sentence templates. If you use the app, ensure that the child also says the sentence, even if you get the app to read it aloud.

6. Show the link between the question word whose (pink) and the possessive pronouns:

7. Practise changing a ‘pink word’ for new set of objects, e.g. scarves or pencils. 

8. Adapt feedback, depending on the errors the child made on assessment:

• If a child uses a red pronoun, e.g. “me / you / hers / mine / yours hat is… “, give feedback like: “You have told me who it belongs to, but you are using a red word not a pink word. What’s the pink word linked with me / you  /Jill?” (i.e. my / your / her).   Model/imitate the correct version.
• If a child uses a proper name, e.g. ‘Tam/Dad hat is… ‘ give feedback such as: “You have told me who it belongs to, but you are using a name not a pink word. What’s the pink word linked with me / you / Tam?”  (i.e. my / your / his).   Model/imitate the correct version (n.b., adding possessive ‘s’ comes later in NP12)
• If a child omits the pronoun  give feedback like: “You haven’t told me who it belongs to. Try using a pink word. What’s the pink word linked with me / you / Jill?”  (i.e. my / your / her).   Model/imitate the correct version.

9. Now make sentences with people (e.g. families, such as The Simpsons) and make sure the gender and number of the possessive pronoun matches the gender and number of the possessor, not the red word e.g.:

• She saw her Mum
• She saw her Dad  (if child says “his Dad”, point out that the pink word shouldn’t match the gender of Dad, but of the person whose Dad it is.)
• He saw his sisters (if child says “her sisters”, point out that the pink word shouldn’t match the gender of the sisters, but the person whose sisters they are.) Also point out that it does not matter whether the sister is plural or not because his is relating to the owner not the sister.
• They saw their Mum (if child says “her/his Mum”, point out that the pink word shouldn’t match the number of the Mum, but of the people whose Mum it is.)

10. Repeat steps 2-6 for plural possessive pronouns, e.g. their and our.

Use different sentence templates, e.g. “I/They have a brother”,   “My/Their brothers are running”,   “We/she have/has a puppy”,  “Our/her puppy is under the table.”

Complete written exercises to practice rule if appropriate (see here for an example task).

11. Now explain that the pink word in the rectangle can also change and does not need to link to the person in the oval. Set up a scenario where a naughty puppy or other pet is playing/stealing people’s belongings. Establish what belongs to whom as before but this time use a sentence pattern with the naughty pet in the oval.

• Ensure that when you use his / her / their pronouns in this context, you point to the relevant parties so that the child understands that none of the hats belong to Fido himself.
• Practise with multiple belongings and contexts. Give feedback as before.
• Complete written exercise if appropriate (see here for an example task)

12. Self-monitoring: At all stages, correct SLT’s / own bad sentences.

13. Generalise the use of possessive pronouns and nouns using lotto or memory pairs games.