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We used the microgenetic method to study story-telling strategies over six retellings of two wordless storybooks supported by two levels of scaffolding. We compared narratives by adolescents with Down syndrome with those by typically developing children matched for syntax comprehension. A scene from each story was analyzed for storytelling strategies, i.e., ways participants solved the problems of construing the task, interacting with the examiner, and narrating the storybooks. Much individual variation was evident, even at similar developmental levels. In contrast to other studies of narrative, almost all the participants, even at the lowest developmental levels, approached the task as one of telling related events. The DS group was more likely to use a multiple utterance strategy and was also more likely to use the developmentally advanced strategy of including character voice. Multiple utterance strategies were also more likely in the condition where high scaffolding was provided. |
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