The Effect of a Narrative Intervention on Story Retelling and Personal Story Generation Skills of Preschoolers With Risk Factors and Narrative Language Delays

Abstract

Narration, or storytelling, is an important aspect of language. Narrative skills have academic and social importance. This study evaluated the effects of a narrative intervention on story retelling and personal story generation skills of preschoolers with risk factors and narrative language delays. Narrative intervention was delivered in a small group arrangement, and materials, activities, and assistance were systematically adjusted within sessions to facilitate increasingly independent practice of oral narration. Participants were 5 preschoolers enrolled in a Head Start classroom who performed below average on two narrative language tasks. Participants made substantial gains in narrative retelling, demonstrated improved preintervention to postintervention scores for personal story generations, and maintained improvements when assessed following a 2-week break. These results have several implications for practice, including narrative intervention's versatility with a range of children from diverse backgrounds and its use of economic and efficient classroom-based small group formats for intervention.

Evidence-based intervention for preschool children with primary speech and language impairments: Child Talk – an exploratory mixed-methods study

“…In total, 26 papers (27 studies) were included in this theme, 70,134,135,[137][138][139]154,157,[168][169][170][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184][185][186][187] which looked at work that aimed to improve children's expressive language, in quantity, vocabulary or structure. DOI: 10.3310/pgfar03050 PROGRAMME GRANTS FOR APPLIED RESEARCH 2015 VOL.…”

“…134 In total, 52 of the studies recruited child participants who had a language impairment. 32,70,134,[178][179][180][181][182][183][184][185][186][187] Two of the studies recruited children either with a language impairment or who were at risk of developing a language impairment. 32,134 Four studies recruited children 'at risk' of language delay/impairment.…”

Preschoolers’ Causal Reasoning During Shared Picture Book Storytelling: A Cross-Case Comparison Descriptive Study

“…Postintervention, children included more story information and produced more complex stories when generating narratives. In a study by Spencer and Slocum (2010), preschoolers with narrative language delays were taught narrative structure in a story-retell context using picture sequences and icons. Children made substantial gains in narrative retelling and personal story generation.…”

Examination of script and non-script based narrative retellings in children with autism spectrum disorders

“…Given the influence of effective narrative skills on academic success and social functioning (e.g., Spencer & Slocum, 2010), gaining a better understanding of the narrative development of individuals with ASD is an imperative area of research.…”

“…Therefore, children who have difficulty with narratives are at risk for poorer 2 reading development (Bourdeau & Hedberg, 1999), academic achievement (Feagans & Appelbaum, 1986), and lower social functioning (Spencer & Slocum, 2010).…”