{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T08:09:22Z","timestamp":1781251762399,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,3]],"date-time":"2023-10-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1696291200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Narrative abilities are an important part of our everyday lives and social interaction with others. Nevertheless, narration is a complex ability influenced by language and cognition. This makes it difficult for individuals with language and cognitive impairment, such as in children and adolescents with Down syndrome. Previous studies have shown distinct narrative impairments in individuals with Down syndrome; nevertheless, this research was based on overall group means in most cases. To identify individual strengths and weaknesses and to draw conclusions for speech and language therapy, the narrative profile of every participant should be considered equally. Following this approach, the current study aims to describe single case narrative profiles in individuals with Down syndrome.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>The narrative transcripts of 28 children and adolescents with Down syndrome (aged 10;0\u201320;1), based on a non-verbal picture book, were rated using the Narrative Scoring Scheme across seven macro- and microstructural categories. Point scores across the whole group are displayed \u2013 nevertheless, the paper specifically addresses the individual narrative profiles of the participants. The participants could be assigned to narrative profile groups which show different characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Group comparisons and correlations were computed for the relation to language abilities (especially vocabulary) and nonverbal cognitive abilities.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results of the two profile groups with minimal and developing narrative skills differ significantly not only concerning narrative outcomes in the Narrative Scoring Scheme but also for language abilities and developmental stage of nonverbal cognition. Individuals that show floor effects in narrative abilities are characterized by an overall weakness in language and cognition. In contrast, a group of approximately equal size shows distinct strengths in their narrative profiles which are in line with their vocabulary strengths, MLU and nonverbal cognition.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The current study uses a new approach to identify individual narrative profiles in a group of individuals with Down syndrome. The results of the investigation underline the existence of narrative impairments in many individuals with Down syndrome but also point to individual strengths of the participants. Furthermore, the study outcomes suggest that narrative abilities might be representative for overall language and cognition in individuals with Down syndrome. However, intervention studies addressing narration are missing.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1116567","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,3]],"date-time":"2023-10-03T07:49:53Z","timestamp":1696319393000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Narrative abilities in individuals with Down syndrome: single case-profiles"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Isabel","family":"Neitzel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1119","DOI":"10.1111\/jar.12997","article-title":"How do students with intellectual disabilities tell stories? An investigation of narrative macrostructure and microstructure","volume":"35","author":"Altman","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Appl. Res. Intellect. Disabil."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ridd.2017.10.002","article-title":"Inferential language use by youth with down syndrome during narration","volume":"71","author":"Ashby","year":"2017","journal-title":"Res. Dev. Disabil."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118766804.wbiect175","article-title":"Narrative","volume-title":"The international Encyclopedia of communication theory and philosophy","author":"Bamberg","year":"2016"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1191\/0265659002ct224oa","article-title":"Narrative as a tool for theasessment of linguistic and pragmatic impairments","volume":"18","author":"Botting","year":"2002","journal-title":"Child Lang. Teach. Therapy"},{"key":"ref01","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"760","DOI":"10.1044\/2020_AJSLP-19-00035","article-title":"Cross-sectional trajectories of mental state language development in children with Down syndrome","volume":"29","author":"Channell","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am. J. Speech Lang. Pathol."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.3389\/fnbeh.2015.00283","article-title":"Narrative language competence in children and adolescents with down syndrome","volume":"9","author":"Channell","year":"2015","journal-title":"Front. Behav. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315835839","volume-title":"Introduction to text linguistics","author":"De Beaugrande","year":"1981"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1044\/1058-0360(2011\/10-0095)","article-title":"Macrostructural narrative language of adolescents and young adults with down syndrome or fragile X syndrome","volume":"21","author":"Finestack","year":"2012","journal-title":"Am. J. Speech Lang. Pathol."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1359","DOI":"10.1017\/S0142716422000406","article-title":"Narrative macrostructure and microstructure profiles of bilingual children with autism spectrum disorder: differentiation from bilingual children with developmental language disorder and typical development","volume":"43","author":"Govindarajan","year":"2022","journal-title":"Appl. Psycholinguist."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"154","DOI":"10.1044\/1058-0360(2009\/08-0024)","article-title":"Properties of the narrative scoring scheme using narrative retells in young school-age children","volume":"19","author":"Heilmann","year":"2010","journal-title":"Am. J. Speech Lang. Pathol."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1352\/1944-7558-118.2.77","article-title":"An investigation of narrative ability in boys with autism and fragile X syndrome","volume":"118","author":"Hogan-Brown","year":"2013","journal-title":"Am. J. Intellect. Dev. Disabil."},{"key":"ref13","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref14","first-page":"e2017","volume-title":"Erz\u00e4hlen \u2013 Eine Aufgabe f\u00fcr Sprachtherapie und Sprachf\u00f6rderung?! Das Dortmunder Therapiekonzept zur Interaktions- und Narrationsentwicklung (DO-TINE)","author":"Katz-Bernstein","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1352\/0895-8017(2007)112[289:NDIAAY]2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Narrative development in adolescents and young adults with fragile X syndrome","volume":"112","author":"Keller-Bell","year":"2007","journal-title":"Am. J. Ment. Retard."},{"key":"ref16","volume-title":"AWST-R. Aktiver Wortschatztest f\u00fcr 3- bis 5-j\u00e4hrige Kinder","author":"Kiese-Himmel","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref17","volume-title":"The representation of meaning in memory","author":"Kintsch","year":"1974"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"546","DOI":"10.1177\/0023830918796691","article-title":"Vocabulary as a central link between phonological working memory and narrative competence: evidence from monolingual and bilingual four-year-olds from different socioeconomic backgrounds","volume":"62","author":"Korecky-Kr\u00f6ll","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lang. Speech"},{"key":"ref20","volume-title":"ELAN 5.3 [computer software]","year":"2018"},{"key":"ref21","volume-title":"Frog, where are you? (a boy, a dog, and a frog)","author":"Mayer","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref22","first-page":"174","article-title":"Methods for the assessment of narrative skills in pre-school and primary school children: task specific influences","volume-title":"Kindheit und Entwicklung","author":"Meier","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref23","author":"Miller","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref24","article-title":"Vocabulary and expressive morpho-syntax in individuals with down syndrome: links to narration","author":"Neitzel","year":"","journal-title":"Res. Dev. Disabil."},{"key":"ref25","first-page":"191","article-title":"Standardized diagnostics in older children and adolescents with down syndrome","volume":"90","author":"Neitzel","year":"2021","journal-title":"Vierteljahresschrift f\u00fcr Heilp\u00e4dagogik und ihre Nachbargebiete"},{"key":"ref26","author":"Neitzel","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.3389\/fcomm.2021.629757","article-title":"Mental state verb production as a measure of perspective taking in narrations of individuals with down syndrome","volume":"6","author":"Neitzel","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Commun."},{"key":"ref28","first-page":"552","article-title":"Narrative profiles of individuals with typical development and down syndrome","volume-title":"BUCLD 46: Proceedings of the 46th annual Boston University conference on language development","author":"Neitzel","year":""},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.7345\/prolog-2201014","article-title":"Erz\u00e4hlf\u00e4higkeit und m\u00f6gliche Einflussfaktoren bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Down-Syndrom","volume":"30","author":"Neitzel","year":"","journal-title":"Logos"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.1177\/0142723704043529","article-title":"Preschool Children\u2019s narratives and performance on the Peabody individualized achievement test \u2013 revised: evidence of a relation between early narrative and later mathematical ability","volume":"24","author":"O\u2019Neill","year":"2004","journal-title":"First Lang."},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1016\/S0093-934X(03)00101-9","article-title":"\u201cFrog, where are you?\u201d narratives in children with specific language impairment, early focal brain injury, and Williams syndrome","volume":"88","author":"Reilly","year":"2004","journal-title":"Brain Lang."},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"721","DOI":"10.1007\/s10882-015-9441-5","article-title":"Narrative skills of youth with down syndrome: a comprehensive literature review","volume":"27","author":"Segal","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Dev. Phys. Disabil."},{"key":"ref35","first-page":"53","article-title":"An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children","volume-title":"Discourse processing: Multidisciplinary perspectives","author":"Stein","year":"1979"},{"key":"ref36","first-page":"109","article-title":"Erz\u00e4hlkompetenz von Kindern mit einer spezifischen Spracherwerbsst\u00f6rung","volume-title":"Narrative Strukturen in der Kindersprache","author":"Swoboda","year":"2011"},{"key":"ref37","volume-title":"SON-R 2\u00bd-7. Non-verbaler Intelligenztest","author":"Tellegen","year":"2007"},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/bs.acdb.2018.11.003","article-title":"Speaking your mind: language and narrative in young Children\u2019s theory of mind development","volume":"56","author":"Tompkins","year":"2019","journal-title":"Adv. Child Develop. Behav."},{"key":"ref39","volume-title":"Macrostructures: An interdisciplinary study of global structures in discourse, interaction, and cognition","author":"Van Dijk","year":"1980"},{"key":"ref40","first-page":"161","article-title":"Development of grammar comprehension in individuals with down syndrome \u2013 a longitudinal investigation","volume":"9","author":"Witecy","year":"2021","journal-title":"Forschung Sprache"},{"key":"ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0041-105898","article-title":"The relationship between language and cognition in German-speaking children and adolescents with Down syndrome","volume":"40","author":"Witecy","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sprache Stimme\u00b7Geh\u00f6r"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1116567\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,3]],"date-time":"2023-10-03T07:50:04Z","timestamp":1696319404000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1116567\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,3]]},"references-count":37,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1116567"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1116567","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,3]]},"article-number":"1116567"}}