Contextualized, Multicomponent Language Instruction: From Theory to Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: Clinicians address a wide range of oral language skills when working with school-age students with language and literacy difficulties (LLDs). Therefore, there is a critical need for carefully designed, rigorously tested, multicomponent contextualized language interventions (CLIs) that have a high likelihood of successful implementation and measurable academic impacts. This clinical focus article summarizes the development and testing of a CLI entitled Supporting Knowledge in Language and Literacy (SKILL), which is a supplementary narrative intervention program for elementary school-age children.

Evaluating the Efficacy of a Narrative Language Intervention for Bilingual Students.

Purpose: This study examines the narrative language and reading outcomes of monolingual and bilingual students who received instruction with the Supporting Knowledge in Language and Literacy (SKILL) program, a narrative language intervention.

Method: The main effects of the SKILL program were evaluated in a randomized controlled trial in which students ( = 355) who were at risk for English language and literacy difficulties were randomized to the SKILL intervention or a business-as-usual instruction. This article reports secondary analyses examining the efficacy of SKILL for bilingual ( = 148) and monolingual ( = 207) students who completed measures of oral and written narrative language and reading comprehension in English.

Experientially based narrative instruction: A neurocognitive perspective.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a personal narrative intervention based on neurocognitive principles and experientially based learning for improving the personal narrative language abilities of a school-age child with Down's syndrome.

Method: A single-case design using contemporary statistical techniques was employed to complete this study. The participant was 8 years 8 months at the time of the study and he participated in a 14-week personal narrative intervention.

Automated Progress-Monitoring for Literate Language Use in Narrative Assessment (LLUNA).

Language sample analysis (LSA) is an important practice for providing a culturally sensitive and accurate assessment of a child's language abilities. A child's usage of literate language devices in narrative samples has been shown to be a critical target for evaluation. While automated scoring systems have begun to appear in the field, no such system exists for conducting progress-monitoring on literate language usage within narratives.

Understanding the nature and severity of reading difficulties among students with language and reading comprehension difficulties.

This study investigated the presence of word reading difficulties in a sample of students in Grades 1-4 (n = 357) identified with language and reading comprehension difficulties. This study also examined whether distinct word reading and listening comprehension profiles emerged within this sample and the extent to which these groups varied in performance on cognitive and demographic variables. Findings showed that the majority of students (51%) with language and reading comprehension difficulties demonstrated significant risk in word reading (more than 1 SD below the mean), even though the participant screening procedures did not examine word reading directly.