title: Classroom-based narrative and vocabulary instruction: results of an early-stage, nonrandomized comparison study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This nonrandomized feasibility study was designed to provide a preliminary assessment of the impact of a narrative and vocabulary instruction program provided by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) in a regular classroom setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-three children attending 2 first-grade classrooms participated in the study. Children in each classroom were divided into high- and low-risk subgroups on the basis of their performance on a narrative test. Narrative and vocabulary instruction was provided by an SLP in 1 classroom for three 30-min periods per week for 6 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The children in the experimental classroom made clinically significant improvements on narrative and vocabulary measures; children in the comparison classroom did not. Within the experimental classroom, children in the high-risk subgroup demonstrated greater gains in narration and fewer gains in vocabulary than children in the low-risk subgroup. There were no subgroup differences in the comparison classroom.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These preliminary results provide early evidence of the feasibility of implementing a narrative instruction program in a classroom setting. Children at a high risk for language difficulties appeared to profit more from the narrative instruction than from the embedded vocabulary instruction. More extensive research on this instructional program is warranted.
authors.forename: Sandra Laing
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Gillam
authors.forename: Abbie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olszewski
authors.forename: Jamison
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fargo
authors.forename: Ronald B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Gillam
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D007808:Language Therapy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D013066:Speech-Language Pathology; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014825:Vocabulary