Enhancing the Personal Narrative Skills of Elementary School-Aged Students Who Use AAC: The Effectiveness of Personal Narrative Intervention

Children who use augmentative and alternative communication have been found to experience significant difficulties in the production of fictional and personal narratives. The important role of personal narratives in establishing personal and social identity has received substantial attention in developmental psychology but little attention in the field of communication disorders. The present study analyzes the effect of an intervention program designed to improve the personal narrative skills of three girls who experience severe communication disorders and use AAC. The study included two personal narrative activities, a description of a personally meaningful photograph and a recount of a personal experience. Our findings indicate that participation in the intervention program had a positive effect on the participants' abilities to produce personal narratives. Learning outcomes: Participants will demonstrate better understanding of activities to use, strategies to implement, and methods for measuring progress when providing personal narrative intervention for students who use AAC. (Contains 9 figures and 1 table.)