Narrative Ability of Children With Speech Sound Disorders and the Prediction of Later Literacy Skills

Abstract

Purpose The main purpose of this study was to examine how children with isolated speech sound disorders (SSDs; n = 20), children with combined SSDs and language impairment (LI; n = 20), and typically developing children (n = 20), ages 3;3 (years;months) to 6;6, differ in narrative ability. The second purpose was to determine if early narrative ability predicts school-age (8–12 years) literacy skills. Method This study employed a longitudinal cohort design. The children completed a narrative retelling task before their formal literacy instruction began. The narratives were analyzed and compared for group differences. Performance on these early narratives was then used to predict the children’s reading decoding, reading comprehension, and written language ability at school age. Results Significant group differences were found in children’s (a) ability to answer questions about the story, (b) use of story grammars, and (c) number of correct and irrelevant utterances. Regression analysis demonstrated that measures of story structure and accuracy were the best predictors of the decoding of real words, reading comprehension, and written language. Measures of syntax and lexical diversity were the best predictors of the decoding of nonsense words. Conclusion Combined SSDs and LI, and not isolated SSDs, impact a child’s narrative abilities. Narrative retelling is a useful task for predicting which children may be at risk for later literacy problems.

Narrative abilities in early implanted children

“…At a later development stage, narrative abilities are often included in language evaluation . The narrative is an ability to give a coherent description of a continuous series of events; it provides information on component skills such as semantics, syntax, and working memory . Because narrative requires the integration of a variety of linguistic and social‐cognitive skills, testing this ability might identify impairments that the standard language measures miss .…”

“…7,8 The narrative is an ability to give a coherent description of a continuous series of events 9 ; it provides information on component skills such as semantics, syntax, and working memory. 10 Because narrative requires the integration of a variety of linguistic and social-cognitive skills, testing this ability might identify impairments that the standard language measures miss. 11,12 These skills are also very important for literacy abilities and have been found to be quite predictive of later academic performance in normal-hearing children.…”

Reading Comprehension in Children With Specific Language Impairment: An Exploratory Study of Linguistic and Decoding Skills

“…For example, memory could be mediating the relation between narrative abilities and reading comprehension. There is evidence of a direct correlation between narrative skills and working memory in children with SLI (Duinmeijer, de Jong, & Scheper, 2012;Wellman et al, 2011). Thus, by controlling the influence of working memory on language tasks, a different picture might appear that could inform the current findings in a more comprehensive way.…”

Educational TV Consumption and Children’s Interest in Leisure Reading and Writing: A Test of the Validated Curriculum Hypothesis

“…Participants were provided with a list of four children's programs that aired in the region of the study when the children were 3-6 years of age. That age range has been identified as crucial from a literacy and developmental standpoint (Wellman et al, 2011).…”