Oral narrative intervention with children who are at risk of, or who have communication impairment

This thesis by publication consists of two papers. The first paper is a systematic review of single case research that investigated oral narrative intervention with children who have communication impairment or who are at risk of communication impairment. Eight papers, published between 2000 and 2014 met criteria for inclusion in the review. Overall the literature supports the use of explicit oral narrative intervention to develop the macrostructure of oral narrative. It also supports the use of macrostructure icons, pictures, modelling and requiring the participants to tell a complete narrative as part of the intervention. Intervention has been conducted with participants who are at risk of or who have a diagnosed communication impairment, but the level of impairment was generally limited. Only one study has been conducted with participants who have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and no studies have been completed with participants who have limited intellectual ability. The use of macrostructure icons is promising in developing oral narratives but there is a need for research with greater degrees of language and intellectual disability or limited intellectual ability. The second paper is a pilot study that investigated the effect of explicit oral narrative intervention on the macrostructure of oral personal narratives in three school age children who have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and limited intellectual ability. In the intervention study, the effects of the intervention on the personal oral narratives of the participants were examined using multiple baseline with probes across participants design. Intervention effects were measured using probes under a photo only condition and under an icons and photo condition. Maintenance and generalisation data across setting and people were collected. The preliminary results of this pilot study indicate that explicit oral narrative intervention including macrostructure icons may be effective with children who have a comorbid diagnosis of ASD and limited intellectual ability.