As part of my comprehensive language and literacy testing, I routinely incorporate clinical narrative and discourse assessment tasks into my testing batteries.
Today I wanted to share with you which materials I use and how SLPs on a tight budget can obtain them online for free. I really like the books recommended by the SALT Software Company, not simply because they are highly engaging to the students but also because there are free scripts and rubrics available for them courtesy of the aforementioned company.
For children from Preschool-1st grade, I use the Frog Books by Mercer Mayer
For 2nd-grade students, I use Pookins Gets Her Way by Helen Lester
For 3rd-grade students, I use A Porcupine Named Fluffy by Helen Lester
For 4-5th grade students, I use Dr. De Soto by William Steig
Additionally for students ages 12-18 I use the Peer Conflict Resolution Tasks first discussed in a 2007 research study by Nippold, Mansfield & Billow.
Now I previously purchased these books from Amazon a number of years ago. However, for those who want a free option, there are good-quality video recordings on Youtube of all of these books. So, if you click on the above links highlighted in purple you will be taken directly to those Youtube videos as well as other free resources on this subject.
In addition to the videos, select free scripts and story grammar (macrostructure) rubrics are also available for clinicians who are attempting to analyze relevant clinical narrative samples. They are highlighted in red under the video links.
Finally, for those clinicians interested in analyzing microstructural narrative elements (vocabulary, grammar, and syntax) in-depth, there are a number of free resources as well. The best source on this topic is the GIANT MILESTONES post located in the SLPs for Evidence-Based Practice – Facebook. It contains numerous resources pertaining to the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax of children aged from infancy through adolescence.
This is an amazing resource, thank you!! I am woefully inexperienced in narrative assessment (years of a district evaluator doing it all) so I have a question that may sound silly. If you’re using a book with text (vs just pictures) would you read through the whole thing first, and then have the student retell the story? And then that is where the rubric would come in? Thank you again!