Personal narrative intervention for school-age children with Down syndrome: A focus on macrostructure

Abstract

The ability to narrate past personal events is important for classroom participation and socio-emotional wellbeing. Although school-age children with Down syndrome show significant challenges producing personal event narratives, there is little research to guide personal narrative intervention. This study used a single subject experimental design to investigate the effectiveness of a personal narrative intervention program aimed at enhancing children's ability to include narrative elements when sharing a personal narrative. Eight children with Down syndrome participated in two intervention sessions a week over 7 weeks. Progress was measured as inclusion of narrative elements in response to three types of prompts: an open prompt, the child's own photo, and a generic photo of children engaged in a familiar activity. Parents completed a post-intervention survey to determine social validity and feasibility. Following intervention, five participants demonstrated significant progress on the open prompt, whereas three participants failed to make significant progress on any of the prompts. Although the results highlight the feasibility of the intervention and demonstrate the effectiveness for at least five of the participants, recommendations are provided to guide further work in this important area to help facilitate social inclusion for this group of children.