Short report. Narrative competence in Italian preschool children with sex chromosome trisomies

Abstract

BackgroundThe neuropsychological profile of children with sex chromosome trisomies [SCTs] is frequently characterised by delays and impairments in language development. However, no studies so far have specifically investigated their narrative competence. AimsThe aim of the study was to analyse the oral narrative competence of preschool children with SCTs due to the importance of this skill for language development and learning abilities. Methods and proceduresParticipants were 34 Italian children with SCTs one-to-one matched by age and sex to typically developing [TD] children. A storytelling task, the Narrative Competence Task, was used to assess the macrostructural and microstructural features of the children's narratives. Outcomes and resultsChildren with SCTs showed significantly lower scores than TD peers in all the narrative indices considered, except for mental state lexicon and story length in words. Conclusions and implicationsThe problems found in narrative competence confirmed the existence of difficulties in the language development of children with SCTs. Narrative difficulties could affect these children's future learning skills and academic achievements.