| Abstract: | This study investigated personal narratives produced by children with and without learning disabilities in the context of naturalistic conversation. The high‐point analysis was applied to compare the referential and evaluative aspects of children's personal narratives. Participants were 60 students in Grades 4 and 5 in public suburban schools, with an almost equal number of boys and girls. The participants with learning disabilities were matched individually with typically achieving peers for chronological age, grade, ethnicity, and gender. Despite significant differences in expressive semantic and syntactic skills, both groups produced narratives that were equivalent in terms of length, structural organization, and global coherence. Group differences centered around the decreased inclusion of high points in narratives produced by girls with learning disabilities, indicating that these girls may struggle with generating coherent personal narratives and communicating their own perspective on the recounted personal experiences. This specific narrative performance is accounted for by the unique profile of cognitive and academic characteristics demonstrated by girls with learning disabilities. Practical implications for the multifaceted assessment of referential and evaluative narrative functions are discussed, and interventions for enhancing narrative skills are suggested. The study's findings are also discussed in the context of previous research and directions for future inquiries. |
