ABSTRACT

Purpose: Children enter school with varying levels of oral language skills and exposure to the narrative structure used in academic contexts based on individual, family, and environmental factors. Multi-tiered instructional models can be used to appropriately identify and support students who need intensive intervention while minimizing over-identification of students. The purpose of this increasing intensity study was to explore the clinical applicability of a tiered narrative language intervention for kindergarten students at-risk for academic difficulties. Methods: Eleven kindergarten students who speak African American English (AAE) participated in a large group co-taught narrative language instruction. An increasing intensity design was used to identify treatment responders and treatment minimal responders. Minimal responders were provided individualized intervention. Results: Eight students were characterized as responders to the large group instruction because of their increased narrative retell performance. Three students were minimal responders to the large group instruction and resultantly received a brief individualized intervention. Throughout the study, students improved their narrative language performance measured by story grammar, story episodes, and language complexity. Conclusions: The feasibility of this collaborative narrative intervention with increasing intensity based on student response coupled with recent tiered narrative experimental studies is promising. Clinical implications of using multi-tiered narrative language systems in elementary school are discussed.