Performance of preschool and schoolchildren on the ProNOH protocol: macrostructure aspects.
Natalia Freitas Rossi, Ana Carolina Xavier, Kriscia Gobi Rosa and 1 others
PMID 37991052WHAT IT FOUND
The ProNOH protocol successfully distinguished storytelling ability between age groups in 97 typically developing Brazilian children.
Scores rose significantly with age, particularly between five and six years, and correlated strongly with story coherence. These data provide reference values for assessing narrative macrostructure.
Key findings
01Narrative scores differed significantly across age groups, with the most pronounced gains occurring between ages five and six.
02Higher narrative scores were strongly correlated with higher levels of global story coherence and with increasing age.
03The lowest level of story coherence was observed only in five-year-olds, while the highest complexity became predominant in children aged 11 and 12.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size (97 participants) was considered small by the authors for establishing robust reference values across the wide 5–12 year age range. The study only included typically developing children, so it does not provide data on how specific disorders (like DLD or ASD) perform on this protocol. The reference values are specific to Brazilian Portuguese speakers and may not generalize to other languages or cultural contexts. The protocol focuses on macrostructure; microstructure aspects (vocabulary, syntax) were not the primary focus of this specific analysis.
Declared interests
Funded by FAPESP, CNPq, and CAPES (Brazilian public research agencies). No commercial conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the significant age-related increase in scores as evidence that the ProNOH protocol is a diagnostic tool for language disorders. This study established normative data for typically developing children; it did not test whether the protocol accurately distinguishes children with disorders from their peers.