Effects of the Narrative Intervention Program for Preschool Portuguese Children

This article analyzes the contribution of a narrative intervention program in linguistic performance (measured by the percentage of correct consonants [PCC], mean length of utterance [MLU], and auditory memory [AM]) of children.

A group of 14 children with primary language impairments participated in this study. The children were divided into two groups (seven children in each): the narrative intervention group (experimental group) and the control group. All children were treated by the same speech-language therapist. The narrative intervention program consisted of eight weekly group sessions. Outcome measures of PCC, MLU, and AM (of pseudowords, words, sentences, and orders) were taken before and after intervention. A qualitative assessment of the intervention effects from the perspective of the children's parents was also included.

The results suggest improvements in PCC and MLU but no support for intervention effectiveness on these measures. In AM, the results indicate a significant intervention effect on words and orders. Parents reported intervention to be favorable/very favorable.

The narrative intervention program was effective in enhancing children's AM. However, further investigation is required to provide clinical evidence for speech and language therapists to employ this program for children with primary language impairments.