An Integrated Narrative and Phonological Awareness Intervention for Preschool Children at Risk of Developing a Reading Disability

We investigated the effectiveness of a combined phonological awareness and narrative intervention program with preschool-age children with communication disorders. We used multiple baseline across participants and repeated acquisition designs to measure narrative retells and syllable blending. Eight children were assigned to four dyads and provided 20 min of instruction twice weekly using the Story Champs intervention program with an added phonological awareness component. We identified functional relations between the intervention package and both narrative retell and syllable blending. All participants improved in their narrative retell and syllable blending abilities when comparing their performance between the baseline and intervention phases of the study. Children with communication disorders may benefit from brief exposure to phonological awareness instruction surrounding a narrative intervention during the early childhood period. Future research is needed to better understand the salient characteristics that influence which children benefit more from brief instruction and those that need more intensive support.