Comics in Speech?

I have some middle school students that are pretty tough to please.  They gag at the sight of worksheets, they groan if someone is reading aloud. They grunt during writing activities.  In short, they already know their deficits with language, and getting them to work on something that's already difficult? No easy task.

A number of them are working on inferring information, and have been for a while.  While the typical, "answer questions about a story" produces eye rolls and moderate compliance, the idea of reading comic strips? Highly motivating.

Of course, like any other SLP, I like to preview my material and make sure that I will have things to talk about with a comic.  My go-to comics include:

Zits

Daddy's Home

Peanuts

Dennis the Menace

Pearls Before Swine

Rhymes with Orange

I use these in a few different ways.  One way I will use them is pretty straightforward: the students answer inferential questions after reading the comic strip.

I will also occasionally "block out" a response for prediction or a whole frame to infer what happened between two panels.

My biggest challenge to students comes when I read a comic without letting them see it.  I ask if they can tell how many characters are in the scene, tell them how many panels are in the picture, and then have them draw it.  The drawings obviously don't have to be artistic masterpieces- stickfigures work fine.  But I do make them include what they think the facial expressions are, how close they think the characters are standing/sitting, and a rough estimate of their best guess on setting.

My approach has been influenced by Stick Writing on a very basic level.  Unlike Stick Writing, I am not really using it really to retell a story or develop a story, but to help some of my very concrete thinkers to make connections.  However, like Stick Writing, I use it for a quick visual rendition for my students who struggle with writing their thoughts, and stress the importance of including characters, a setting, and other relevant information with quick sketches.  Plus, doing it on the whiteboard gets them out of their seats and moving around a bit.
 

Here's an example.  What's in green is what I wrote for the student.  In black is the student's work. This student happens to have lockers in his house, so he interpreted that it's taking place at home.  In the first panel, he is playing video games, and the mother yells from somewhere else in the house. In the second, he is pulling stuff down the hall to put in the locker. In the last frame, he's proud of himself and showing off his muscles. 

Here's the original comic

Using comics this way also gets more language overall from my students.  It breaks the mold of me being the only one to ask questions, and it encourages them to talk to each other, which is great for my kids that have goals in social language, as well.  Plus, the conversation that's sparked when they compare their comics with the real one are pretty impressive.  Most of my Middle Schoolers have at least some sort of carryover goal (artic or syntax), so longer passages of conversation is a great way for me to figure out what skills may need brushing up.

I am always a fan of saving time, so if you are interested in some of the comics I use, I made a quick powerpoint that you can get here.

Do you have any other ways to use comics in your groups?