Squirrel Story Narrative Assessment – hard copy

Narrative ability is one of the cornerstones of language competence in the school-age years and oral narrative is often felt to be highly predictive of success in reading/writing.

The Squirrel Story Narrative assessment, hard copy, provides a profile around 6 key areas of narrative in young children.

Gesture/nonverbal skills
Vocabulary
Listening and Attention skills
Levels of language used (syntax)
Story structure
Story content

Squirrel Story can be used with children aged three to six years. Although the tool’s primary use is with children who have developmental language disorder (DLD), the assessment can also be used for children with a variety of language needs. It is a useful tool to determine therapy goals and/or curriculum planning. It can also be used as a screening tool and to monitor progress.

The ‘Squirrel Story’ is not norm-referenced, however, guideline scores are presented from a sample of 100 children.

Quick to administer and easy to score.

The hard copy narrative assessment pack consists of:

• An illustrated A5 booklet with 9 full-colour pictures illustrating the story for use as a visual prompt.
• An instruction manual including detailed examples of the analysis, case studies and links to intervention materials.
• The forms required for recording and analysing the child’s output are on card, for use as photocopy masters, keeping the cost of using the test to a minimum.

When you have purchased this assessment you also have free access to The Squirrel Story NCA which tests a child’s understanding of narrative at discourse level. The NCA provides separate literal and inferential scores, giving the clinician an understanding of the child’s ability to orally comprehend narratives at both a literal and inferential level. The NCA provides clinicians and teachers with an assessment tool which can support the development of intervention goals.

For information on the research behind this assessment and the work currently being carried out by the group ‘Language and Literacy in Young People’ a thriving group of researchers and HDR students led by A/Prof Suze Leitão visit: https://www.languageandliteracyinyoungpeople.com/  The group carry out research to inform our understanding of oral language development and disorders in children and young people, as well as the domains of reading and spelling (literacy).

Recommended in: Carroll, Bowyer-Crane, Duff, Hulme, Snowling, (2011), Developing Language & Literacy: effective intervention in the early years. Chichester: Wiley.
Age Range: 3-6 years
Alternative Uses: It is a useful tool to determine therapy goals and/or curriculum planning.
Contents: Manual, A5-sized illustrated story booklet as a visual prompt, photocopiable score sheets. All items are in A4 sized folder.
Apps: The Squirrel Story is also available as an app. See our apps