Assessing the Coherence of Parents’ Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

This method evaluate the coherence of parents’brief narratives regarding their children. Coherence is indicative of the quality of parent-child relationship and child adjustment. FMSS coherence can be applied in the context of other close relationships, such as marital relationships, teacher-student relationships and more.

The main advantage of this method is that it is time-effective and cost-effective compared to other interviews with parents. Begin by escorting the parent into a quiet testing room. Then administer the five minute speech sample coherence, or FMSS, as the first measure to collect from the parent.

Turn on the audio recorder and tell the parent So for the next five minutes, please tell me about your thoughts and feelings regarding your child. Please tell me what kind of a person your child is and how the two of you get along together. Turn on the stop watch to count down from five minutes once the parent tarts speaking.

I could tell you he’s usually a very nice boy. We get along really well I think. After the interview is complete, transcribe the FMSS audio into text.

For each of the following coherent subscales, use plus or minus signs to mark segments that reflect the subscales positively or negatively. Based on these plus and minus signs, determine a score for each subscale according to the following guidelines. For focus, assign a high score when the parent refers to the child and or their relationship as a focused subject of the FMSS.

Assign a low score when the parent refers to other maters for the majority of the FMSS or narrates about her or his children as a whole instead of focusing on the target child. For example, when the parent says, I believe my schedule varies from the other jobs, so I usually work on Tuesday nights, Wednesday nights, and Thursday nights, some weekends, but usually I get a Monday and Friday off. For elaboration, assign a high score when the parent provides detailed and rich descriptions of the child and or their relationship.

Assign a low score when the FMSS is laconic and includes only a few brief sentences. For example, He’s a friendly boy. He’s a good boy.

There isn’t anything special I could say about him. He’s a very good boy. For separateness, assign a high score when the parent describe the child as having a distinct personality with needs and desires that are different from her or his own.

Assign a low score when the parent shows difficulties in describing the child as a separate entity. And when the parent shows boundary dissolution, namely describes the parent’s and child’s roles as equal or reversed. For concern, assign a low score when the parent does not articulate worries or concern.

Note that a low score in concern is a positive marker of coherence, so you should reverse code this score. Assign a high score when the parent refers several times to characteristics of the child or the relationship that concern her or him. For example, I’m concerned about his social skills.

I’m worried that he doesn’t have any close friends. Keeps to himself a lot and I’m worried about it. I just don’t know what to do.

For acceptance, assign a high score when the parent speaks lovingly of the child, is pleased and proud with the child’s accomplishments, and display empathy for the child’s weaknesses and negative behaviors. Assign a low score when the parent expresses rejection, disappointment, devaluation, or a judgmental stance regarding the child even if she or he also shows a few expressions of affection. For example, She’s crazy.

She cries when she doesn’t get her way. She does very good in school, can do her homework on her own, but she’s in everybody’s business all the time and tries to be her teacher’s pet. Lastly, for complexity, assign a high score when the parent addresses both positive and negative aspects of the child or the relationship in different contexts and provides supporting example for most of her or his statements.

Assign a low score when the parent provides an undimensional portrayal that focuses on only positive or primary negative or concerning aspects of the child and the relationship. After the scores have been assigned, read the FMSS again and mark contradictions in the text. Go over the scores you assigned to integrate your impression in the FMSS as a whole and determine the final coherence score.

Pull up the transcribed FMSS script to analyze and the rating sheet. Note for simplicity, only a rating sheet with high, moderate, and low scores are used here, while the original rating sheet has seven point scales. In this example of a mother talking about an eight year old boy, assign a high score in focus, as the mother only talks about the child.

No minus signs. For elaboration, denote a plus next to the following. Doing well in school, very friendly and outgoing, helps, fights with brother, hangs out with friends, and helps dad.

Accordingly, assign a high score in elaboration. Assign a high score in separateness, as there are no separateness issues or no minus signs. Assign a low score in concern, as the mother does not articulate any worries or concerns, and reverse code the score from low to high.

For acceptance, denote a plus near the following:the mother is proud of her child, expresses excitement regarding his behavior, and an understanding when relating to his negative behavior. Accordingly, assign a high score in acceptance. Assign a high score in complexity, as the mother describes different child characteristics, relates to the child’s strengths such as friendly and weaknesses, for example, fights with his siblings, and supports her statements with examples.

Finally, rate the FMSS as high in coherence, based on the scores given in the above subscales, as well as lack of contradictions in the text. Results form a study of mothers and young children with ASD attending special education schools indicated that mothers who provided coherent FMSS showed higher emotional availability during observed play interaction with their child, as compared with mothers who provided incoherent FMSS. Your final FMSS coherence score should be based on the scores you assign to each of the six subscales.

A common mistake is to base the final score on overall impression and intuition. Colleagues in other universities are conducting several research endeavors exploring antecedents and outcomes of FMSS coherence, focusing, for example, on expecting parents.