Collaborating to assess young children’s narrative language skills and response to intervention: A case study

Abstract

This case study describes how a teacher and speech-language pathologist (SLP) collaborated to differentiate narrative language instruction in a pre-K classroom for 10 kindergarten-age children who did not meet benchmarks for school readiness at school entry. Using an evidence-based intervention and a response to intervention (RTI) framework, progress monitoring showed that six of the 10 participants responded to Tier 1 instruction, two caught up to peers after six sessions of Tier 2 instruction, and two remained minimally responsive following Tier 3 instruction. Results indicated that assessment and intervention procedures were effective for identifying academically at-risk students to refer for additional evaluation. The procedures were also efficient, requiring approximately 1.2 h per week for intervention and assessment. Implications include recommendations to improve efficiency further in applied settings.

Keywords:

• Collaboration
• narratives
• language
• assessment
• RTI

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

All data obtained and/or analyzed are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this project.

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Hollo

Alexandra Hollo is an associate professor at West Virginia University. Her research focuses on developing supports for children with co-occurring language disorders and social, emotional, and behavioral needs.

Jayne Brandel

Jayne Brandel is an associate professor at West Virginia University. Her current research interests are service delivery by speech-language pathologists in the schools and treatments for individuals with a Developmental Language Disorder.

Allegra Cornaglia

Allegra Cornaglia is an assistant professor at Carlow University. Her current research interests are in clinical education of graduate speech-language pathology students and simulation education in rehabilitation fields.