The effect of narrative-based language intervention (NBLI) on narrative performance of children with autism spectrum disorder

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of narrative-based language intervention (NBLI) on narrative retell of Persian-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Eleven children with ASD aged 5 to 7 years old participated in this study. All participants attended NBLI sessions individually three times a week. In this procedure a set of steps that target microstructure and macrostructure components were used for retelling narratives. An illustrated storybook and icon cards were presented to the children. In a pre- and post-test design, results were assessed in three phases before intervention, immediately after intervention and as a follow-up two weeks after intervention. At the level of microstructure, the results showed that there were significant improvement in productivity (number of total words and total clauses) and syntactic complexity (average of T-unit length and subordination index) immediately after intervention. At the level of macrostructure, there was also improvement in total score of story grammar elements immediately after intervention. All these learning outcomes were maintained two weeks after intervention. In conclusion, NBLI can be effective in improving the microstructure and macrostructure components of spoken narrative in children with ASD.