Test of Narrative Language-2

Test of Narrative Language - 2nd Edition (TNL-2) is a norm-referenced assessment tool that measures a child’s narrative language abilities. Narrative language skills involve an individual’s ability to tell or retell a story, and are an important aspect of communication.

Children’s narrative abilities have been linked to later academic achievement, listening comprehension skills, receptive vocabulary, and writing. They are critical for supporting a child’s overall academic and social success.

As children grow, narrative language skills become an important aspect of the individual’s ability to communicate with others within professional contexts.

Speech-language pathologists can help support children’s narrative language abilities by providing early intervention that targets the skills involved, such as understanding story grammar, retelling, and sequencing.

A thorough assessment serves as the basis of an effective intervention plan in speech therapy. 

Let’s examine the Test of Narrative Language by diving into an explanation of the components of the assessment, its purpose, advantages and challenges of using the test, and some specialized administration tips for SLPs. 

Watch Your Free On-Demand Webinar: 9 Admin Tasks to Automate In Your Private Practice

What is the Test of Narrative Language - 2 (TNL-2)

The Test of Narrative Language - 2nd Edition (TNL-2) is a standardized test that assesses important aspects of a child’s ability to understand and tell stories (narrative language abilities).

The Test of Narrative Language can be administered to children between the ages of 5 and 15 years 11 months, and takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Some of the key components and domains assessed by the TNL-2 include:

• Story grammar: The basic structure of a narrative text. Rules for describing features in stories, such as the parts of the story, and how they are arranged.

• Cohesion: How the components of a narrative are bound together and work together as a whole.

• Mental state verbs: Words that describe one’s thoughts and feelings (i.e., tired, love, good, hurt).

• Macrostructure: Refers to story elements, sequence of events, problem, resolution and conclusion.

A thorough examination of narrative language skills, the Test of Narrative Language serves as a valuable tool for speech therapists to use in diagnosing narrative language disorders. The test allows SLPs to identify a child’s specific areas of strengths and difficulties, enabling targeted interventions to improve the child’s narrative language skills.

Benefits and advantages of using the Test of Narrative Language in speech therapy

The Test of Narrative Language  offers many advantages to speech therapists assessing a client’s narrative language skills.

One primary benefit is that the TNL-2 provides a comprehensive evaluation of narrative language skills in children and adolescents. The test allows clinicians to assess critical aspects of narrative language skills without having to transcribe children’s stories. This offers time-saving benefits to the clinician.

The TNL-2 helps clinicians identify specific areas of difficulty in narrative language abilities. Therapists can tailor therapy interventions based on the Test of Narrative Language results in order to enhance storytelling and comprehension skills.

Improving narrative language skills through targeted interventions in speech therapy can lead to improvements in a child’s academic performance and social interactions. Studies have shown that narrative-based language intervention has the potential to positively impact related cognitive skills, such as working memory.

Strengths identified through areas on the test that a child scores at or above age-level can be incorporated into tasks and strategies used in speech therapy. Through this, SLPs can create unique therapy interventions based on the TNL-2 results to improve an individual’s narrative language skills.