Narrative Language and Reading Comprehension in Students With Mild Intellectual Disabilities

Past research shows positive correlations between oral narrative skill and reading comprehension in typically developing students. This study examined the relationship between reading comprehension and narrative language ability of 102 elementary students with mild levels of intellectual disability. Results describe the students' narrative language microstructure and relative strengths and weaknesses in narrative macrostructure. Students' narrative macrostructure accounted for significant variance in reading comprehension beyond what was accounted for by narrative microstructure (i.e., mean length of utterance in morphemes, number of different words, total utterances). This study provides considerations for measuring narrative quality when characterizing the functional language skills of students with mild levels of intellectual disability. Measurement tools that quantify the quality of language provide important information regarding targets of intervention beyond grammar and vocabulary.