Background: Children with social communication disorder (SCD) often experience difficulties with indirect language and oral and nonverbal communication, leading to language delay and impairments. Research has explored phonological development in typically developing (TD) Persian-speaking children, but there is limited information on how developing phonologies in children with SCD are impacted.

Aims: This study aims to evaluate the effects of narrative intervention on phonological skills at the utterance, word, syllable, and segmental levels, using the following measures: mean length of utterance in words (MLUw), syllable count match (SCM), percentage of consonants correct (PCC), phonological mean length of utterance (pMLU), proportion of whole-word proximity (PWP), and word-final cluster accuracy in Persian-speaking children with SCD.

Method: Three Persian-speaking boys with SCD, aged between 3;6 and 5;0, participated in the study, following parental consent as per ethical procedures. Personalised narrative intervention was used. Speech data were collected longitudinally during an Initial, Treatment, and Maintenance phase of 3, 12, and 3 sessions per phase. Phonetic transcriptions and audio recordings were aligned using Phon. Intervention effects were assessed by gauging changes in MLUw, SCM, PCC, pMLU, PWP, and word-final cluster accuracy.

Results: The participants’ MLU and SCM scores improved by the Maintenance phase. Initial MLU scores were 3.57, 3.48, and 2.42, improving to 6.46, 5.53, and 2.53, respectively. SCM scores also increased from 99.54%, 98%, and 96.88% to 99.94%, 98.64%, and 99.17%. PCC, pMLU, and PWP scores improved across all participants, with the greatest gains observed in the child with initially less intelligible speech. Cluster reductions, common in phonological development, decreased following the intervention. Children exhibited variable consonant cluster productions. Cluster accuracy improved over time.

Conclusions: Narrative intervention significantly improved phonological skills. Our findings suggest that individualised narrative-based intervention enhances language and phonological development. Further research is needed to optimise intervention strategies and explore their applicability to larger populations and other linguistic skills. The study provides valuable insights for clinical practice, highlighting the potential of narrative interventions to support phonological development in children with SCD.

Implications for children and families: Incorporating storytelling and personalised narratives into daily activities can significantly improve language and speech development in children with social communication disorder (SCD). You are encouraged to engage in narrative-based interventions at home, guided by speech-language pathologists, to reinforce progress made during clinical sessions, to celebrate incremental progress and to contribute to your child’s speech and language development. Such interventions provide a holistic and engaging way to improve your child’s social interactions and quality of life.

Implications for practitioners: The study highlights the effectiveness of narrative intervention for children with social communication disorder (SCD). It suggests incorporating personalised narrative approaches into therapeutic practices and conducting longitudinal assessments to track progress. The individualised nature of narrative intervention can be tailored to meet the specific needs of individual children. Engaging families in the intervention process and fostering a collaborative approach between the practitioner and the family is also important. Thus, integrating narrative intervention into clinical practice offers a promising avenue for enhancing the phonological skills of children with SCD during language development.

Key words: children’s voices, communication, phonological development, social communication disorder, Persian, professional voices, innovation, well-being

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 1: No Poverty
• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities