Narrative assessment for Cantonese-speaking children.
BACKGROUND
This study examined the narrative skills of Cantonese-speaking school-age children to fill a need for a normative language test for school-age children.


OBJECTIVE
To provide a benchmark of the narrative skills of Cantonese-speaking children; to identify which of the microstructure components was the best predictor of age; and to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the test components.


METHODS
Data were collected from 1,120 Cantonese-speaking children between the ages of 4;10 (years;months) and 12;01, using a story-retell of a 24-frame picture series. Four narrative components (syntactic complexity, semantic score, referencing, and connective use) were measured.


RESULTS
Each measure reflected significant age-related differences in narrative ability. Regression analyses revealed that vocabulary and syntactic complexity were the best predictors of grade. All measures showed high sensitivity (86%-94%) but relatively low specificity (60%-90%) and modest likelihood ratio (LR) values: LR+ (2.15-9.42) and LR- (0.07-0.34).


CONCLUSIONS
Narrative assessment can be standardized to be a reliable and valid instrument to assist in the identification of children with language impairment. Syntactic complexity is not only a strong predictor of grade but was also particularly vulnerable in Cantonese-speaking children with specific language impairment. Further diagnostic research using narrative analysis is warranted.
Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, 5/F Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, SAR, China. tokitsum@hku.hk
Carol Kit-Sum
CK
To
Stephanie F
SF
Stokes
Hin-Tat
HT
Cheung
Benjamin
B
T'sou
D000375:Aging; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D007807:Language Tests; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014825:Vocabulary