Development of early narrative skills
Instrument 1 - Description
Analysis and record of descriptive language in early stages
“Logic is the structure of our descriptive language, as well as of the world described by language”. Wittgenstein, L (1921)
Instrument I allows the systematic assessment and analysis of linguistic and gestural skills involved in a descriptive task in early stages.
The variables of this instrument are supported by concepts of pragmatic linguistics (Van Dijk, 1978; Halliday & Hassan, 1978) and Wittgenstein’s Figurative Theory of Meaning (1921).
Within ICRA Method, descriptive language links basic speech acts ( MINIMUM COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT) with minimum narrative skills (Minimum Narrative Circuit).
Its assessment and/or therapeutic approach is supported by visual aids and performed in a close format defined by the stimulus presented by the evaluator.
It demands little linguistic production and no creativity from the patient.
In this way, the speech and language pathologist can control the variables of analysis of the patient’s descriptive production better (e.g., respect for the topic; use of proper vocabulary, cohesive devices, deitic gestures, etc.).
The descriptive task is important in the transition between Minimum Circuits. It provides a framework, a set of limits, a reference parameter of the child’s verbal competence in connection with his/her decoding of the logic structure expressed in the picture.
Instrument 1 - Description
Characteristics of Instrument 1
Instrument 1 of ICRA-N Battery (analysis and record of descriptive language) assesses the description made by a child of two pictures with different topics. The paralinguistic, pre-linguistic and linguistic production and the verbal and gestural coherence are quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed (Abraham & Brenca, 2016). Instrument 1 consists of 25 items (13 quantitative and 12 qualitative). It was designed by following a progression criterion ranging from enumeration to description, enabling the therapist to identify the stage at which the child’s descriptive production is:
1) Enumeration: Production of isolated or grouped lexical elements (asyndetically, syndetically and polysyndetically). Later, the child gradually goes from grouping (nouns and even nominal phrases) to expressing verbal phrases and full statements that vary both in lexical and grammatical complexity.
Instrument 1 - Description
2) Expression of verbal phrases and full statements: Referential organization related to gestures and coherence is taken into account. All that has been produced both by the child and the evaluator is recorded and later transcribed for the analysis.
• 2 pictures.
