Preliminary effects of a pilot listening comprehension intervention on the narrative abilities of children with ASD

Purpose: Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties in narrative production and comprehension. The present study is a pilot test examining the effects of a storybook-based listening comprehension intervention on the narrative abilities of students with ASD. Method: 16 children with ASD, aged 7-12, participated in 8 weeks of intervention (3 45-minute sessions per week). The intervention provided explicit instruction in specific listening comprehension skills, vocabulary, and writing. Descriptive measures and child-generated narratives were collected prior to and immediately following the intervention. Children's narratives were analyzed for evaluation characteristics. Results: Results from a Wilcoxon signed rank test indicated that participants made significant gains in overall narrative evaluation and the use of internal state language following the intervention. Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that this intervention shows initial efficacy in ameliorating the narrative difficulties of students with ASD. This pilot study highlights the social and oral language underpinnings of narrative ability and provides further evidence for intervention practices to support narrative development in children with ASD.