Nurturing Narratives: Story-Based Language Intervention for Children With Complicated Language Problems, Including Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities (Coaching Comprehension)

Children with complex learning problems (CLP) need to learn important language and academic skills. These children are often in situations that may not be meaningful to them and hence are too complex for learning to occur. Due to the importance of understanding and telling stories for all children, Nurturing Narratives was developed as a story-based language intervention for children. The model emphasizes comprehension, “tailors” language to the child’s developmental level and stresses social engagement. The acquisition of language and literacy skills is embedded in a variety of story-related activities. The book includes: • A detailed description of the model • Guidelines for implementing the intervention • Instructions for creating materials • Supportive materials such as goals and sample stories

Christine Durbin, M.A., CCC-SLP is currently a Senior Speech-Language Pathologist at Kalmanowitz Child Development Center at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Previously she was Chief of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at El Paso Rehabilitation Center. Christine has practiced as a pediatric speech-language pathologist for the past 30 years. She has long been interested in the concept of treating the total child and has worked in interdisciplinary settings all of her career. She has worked extensively in early intervention and with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. During the past several years, she has been collaborating with Dr. Lauren Franke to write a book about narrative-based language intervention for children with language disorders which are complicated by other developmental challenges such as autism and cognitive impairments. Christine has presented on this topic at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention and the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention. She has also taught seminars on this topic locally in the Bay Area. Christine received her Master's degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Missouri – Columbia in 1979. She currently lives in Sausalito, CA where she enjoys hiking and painting, and dancing whenever she can! Lauren Franke, Psy.D., CCC-SP, is a speech language pathologist and a clinical psychologist. She received her doctorate from Pepperdine University in 1991. She has had more than 30 years experience as a practitioner, educator, consultant and researcher. She was Clinical Director of the Long Beach Scottish Rite Center for Childhood Language Disorders for 29 years. Her research and practice have focused on story-based language intervention to help students with complicated language needs develop language, social communication, play and literacy skills. Lauren has developed a story-based intervention framework, Coaching Comprehension-Creating Conversation (CCCC), over the past 10 years working with parents, therapists, classroom teachers and administrators. This framework reflects her commitment to developing and implementing functional and meaningful intervention that “fits” the student and is motivating and engaging. She has developed interactive story-based software for computer-assisted instruction and she continues to consult in this area. Through her work with the Orange County Department of Education in southern California over the past six years, Lauren has developed the CMAP-ASD, the Comprehensive Multi-disciplinary Assessment Protocol for Autism Spectrum Disorders, an assessment protocol for IEP teams to use when developing assessment plans for students suspected of being on the autism spectrum. Lauren speaks regularly on topics related to story-based language intervention, assessment, social skills, and supporting students with ASD in accessing the curriculum.