Young children's narrative retell in response to static and animated stories.

The children were mostly typically developing and had above-average non-verbal intelligence and auditory processing scores, so results may not apply to children with language disorder or lower socio-economic backgrounds. The picture books were made from screenshots of the videos, and the videos were chosen first, which may have favoured the video condition. The study did not measure attention, engagement, enthusiasm, or story comprehension, so it cannot say why the video retells were longer. Transcribers were not blind to presentation condition, and examiner prompts were not planned as a primary measure. Several comparisons were made, and after correction for multiple testing some small advantages for video were not significant. Eight children did not complete the full norm-referenced battery, and no general language test was administered.

Do not conclude that animated video prompts are better for assessment or diagnosis in children with language disorder. This study used typically developing children, the effects were small, and some key scores were not significantly different after correction. The static books were made from video screenshots, so the video format may have had an advantage.