Narrative Intervention Programme

Victoria Joffe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781138049819
• eBook ISBN: 9781351688420
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Administration

This book improves the understanding and telling of stories in secondary school students and young adults. Specifically designed for older children and young adults, this practical language programme was created by a specialist speech & language therapist with input from secondary school teachers and students. It focuses on enhancing the understanding and expression of stories in students aged from 8 to 18 with language and communication difficulties, and aims to: create an awareness of how storytelling can be used to enhance learning in school and social interactions in school and home environments. It facilitates storytelling.  It enhances the joy and enjoyment in telling stories. It identifies different types of narratives and provide examples for each type. It encourages effective listening and attention skills. It examines different means of making story production more interesting through vocal variety, body language and print. It encourages the use of the story planner in planning and structuring essays in the classroom and for homework. Dr Victoria Joffe is a specialist speech and language therapist and senior lecturer in developmental speech, language and communication impairments in the Department of Language and Communication Science at City University, London. Victoria runs various workshops for PCT's, LEA's and schools on child speech disorder, evidence based practice in speech and language therapy and collaborative practice in education and provides training for therapists and teaching staff on working with children and young adults with speech, language and communication needs in education. Victoria is currently involved in a large scale intervention project funded by the Nuffield Foundation on enhancing language and communication in secondary school children with language impairments on which this programme is based.

Appendix 1 Appendix 1

Narrative checklist

NAME:_______________________________________ DATE:_______________________________________

SEX:_________________________________________ SCHOOL:____________________________________

TESTER:______________________________________ D.O.B:_____________________________________

Appendix 2 Appendix 2

An overview of the Enhancing Language and Communication in Secondary Schools (ELCISS) research programme

The narrative intervention programme was originally part of a research project funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The research programme was entitled: ‘Enhancing language and communication in secondary school students (ELCISS) with language and communication impairments through two intervention programmes: narrative and vocabulary enrichment.’ The aims of the research programme were to:

• Describe the nature and type of language and communication difficulties in secondary school age students.
• Investigate and compare the effectiveness of two language intervention programmes (narrative and vocabulary enrichment), delivered by teaching assistants, on the language and communication of a group of year 8 and year 9(12-13 years) secondary school students identified as having language and communication difficulties.
• Train teaching and support staff on speech, language and communication difficulties, and on using language strategies to enhance language and communication in the classroom, and hence build capacity within the existing schools.

Preliminary results of the ELCISS Research Programme

The focus of the ELCISS programme was two-pronged: delivery of language intervention support (storytelling and vocabulary enrichment) by teaching assistants to secondary school students with significant SLCN, as well as a structured whole school training programme on speech, language and communication to raise awareness, knowledge and skills in this area across mainstream schools. Preliminary results of the research suggest substantial positive outcomes for the students, teaching assistants who delivered the training and schools who participated in the knowledge transfer workshops.

Initial data analysis indicates significant differential improvement by the students in areas of language targeted by the interventions. This means that students who participated in the narrative intervention performed better on measures of narrative than the control group, who received no training, at post intervention, a finding not evident with the students in the vocabulary group. As a result of this intervention, students told more interesting stories using more story components. They also showed improved knowledge around what it entails to tell a ‘good story’.

Conversely, the same paffern was observed with vocabulary knowledge in the group of students receiving the vocabulary enrichment intervention. These students scored higher at post intervention on measures of vocabulary than students in the control group who did not receive any intervention.

Therefore, students attending the narrative training scored more highly on narrative measures compared with a control group at post intervention, and students receiving the vocabulary intervention scored better on vocabulary measures compared with the control group. These findings therefore suggest that the interventions were effective at enhancing the language and communication of secondary school students with speech, language and communication difficulties. It is important to note that these improvements were specific to the group receiving the targeted intervention. This evidence is encouraging and shows the positive impact of both the narrative and vocabulary intervention programmes in enhancing narrative and vocabulary ability respectively in a group of secondary school students with SLCN.

What has been said about the ELCISS research programme?

Feedback about the ELCISS programme and specifically the two interventions has been extremely positive, and provides further evidence for the benefits of the ELCISS intervention programmes from the perspectives of the students, teaching staff, teaching assistants and representatives from the local education authorities of the participating boroughs. Some examples of this feedback are presented below:

The children

The children reported benefits in the areas of language ability (’I really liked the storytelling best, it helps me with my talking and I hope we are going to do it again’ and ‘It helped me to bring out my language properly and I enjoyed it too’); and self-esteem and social skills (’I felt confident and started socialising more’, ‘Didn’t have to worry about getting something wrong’, ‘Working in a team’ and ‘Helping me understand people’). Other comments from the students participating in the programme include:

‘I enjoyed the project and learned a lot. I used to feel nervous but now I can express myself much more’ (Student G)

‘I thought it was good because it taught me to concentrate and listen more’ (Student D)

‘…I liked when we learned what autobiography and fiction and non-fiction is. I know how to put a story in order. I’ve learned a lot of new words: autobiography, biography, fiction, non-fiction’ (Student Sh)

‘I really learned a lot about the stories and I improved on how to describe characters and the beginning and end of a story’ (Student M)

‘I liked the story making also when we had to read the story. I also liked the card games because we had to make up stories using cards’ (Student L)

[It was] fun because we told our stories that happened to us’ (Student BM)

‘I liked the games and it helped me to work things better and it’s a shame it’s finished now’ (Student J)

‘It was fun and I would tell anyone who got the chance to do it. I would like to do it again’ (Student KA)

‘It was really good and now I am able to understand more and have more confidence when I am talking to people’ (Student S)

‘It helped me to bring out my language properly and I enjoyed it too’ (Student KE)

‘I really enjoyed it and the activities were fun. I would like to do it again’ (Student P)

‘I found some of it quite hard but it was fun too and you learn stuff’ (Student Th)

‘It was quite good and I liked the puzzle bits. I think it has helped my English too’ (Student R)

‘I thought it was fun to do and Miss was really helpful. I wish I could carry on with it’ (Student N)

‘I really enjoyed all the activities and games and doing work just by myself. In class the teachers are busy and they don’t give you enough attention and I don’t always understand what I h...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Copyright Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Dedication
• About the Author
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Programme background and context
• Programme overview
• Session plans
• References
• Appendix 1: Narrative checklist
• Appendix 2: An overview of the ELCISS research programme