The experience of Occupational Therapy with storytelling in an educational institution

Stories are important tools in the educational process and daily lives of children, because they contribute to the teaching practice in early education and to child development in many aspects, especially in learning. The purpose of this report is to present the experience of a storytelling group in an educational institution in the municipality of Uberaba, Minas Gerais state, during an internship supervised by the Occupational Therapy Course - Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro. The group developed strategies to improve psychomotor and cognitive aspects and expressive abilities of the students. Twelve one-hour weekly meetings were held during the morning, and the public were students aged 6 to 12 years old that stayed in school the whole day. In the workshop, entitled "Living the Story", the group developed actions aimed at the creation and telling of stories, the confection of resources that were linked to the stories, and the concepts of experiences related to psychomotor aspects. As a result, it was possible to observe improvements in cognitive skills, emotional regulation, attention and concentration, problem solving, and general psychomotor aspects. Therefore, it is possible to point out that creating and listening to stories stimulate the imagination, educate, instruct, develop cognitive skills, facilitate the process of reading and writing, and enhance children's communication skills.