Narrative Assessment and Intervention: A Clinical Tutorial on Extending Explicit Language Instruction and Progress Monitoring to All Students

Abstract

The majority of children who are culturally and linguistically diverse in the United States read below grade level. This disproportionate prevalence of reading difficulty is likely due to language-related factors. Although most of these children do not have language impairment, they do need explicit instruction in the use and comprehension of complex, academically-related language that is expected in public schools. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are particularly well suited to help guide this needed explicit language instruction and help implement language progress monitoring. In this clinical tutorial, we propose ways in which narrative assessment and intervention within a response to intervention framework can be carefully aligned and realistically carried out. We propose that narrative assessment and narrative intervention should become standard practice in schools to monitor language growth and provide explicit language instruction to students.