Graduate Student Clinicians' Perceptions of Child Speech Sound Errors

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Auditory perception research
• Child speech development

Background:

• Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) depend on auditory perception for accurate child speech judgments.
• Graduate student clinicians often face challenges due to limited experience in perceptual speech evaluation.
• Accurate auditory perception is crucial for diagnosing and treating speech sound disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the consistency of graduate student clinicians' use of a 3-point perceptual rating scale for child speech.
• To determine inter-rater reliability between novice clinicians and experienced SLPs.
• To identify factors influencing perceptual judgment accuracy in novice clinicians.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-four graduate student clinicians rated child speech productions (typically developing and speech sound disorder).
• A 3-point scale (accurate, approximation, inaccurate) was used, based solely on auditory input.
• Ratings were compared against a consensus rating established by two experienced SLPs.

Main Results:

• Graduate student clinicians achieved substantial agreement with the expert SLP consensus rating.
• Highest agreement was observed for accurate speech productions.
• Lowest agreement occurred when rating inaccurate speech productions.

Conclusions:

• Graduate student clinicians demonstrate substantial agreement in judging child speech with a defined 3-point scale.
• Detailed rating category descriptions enhance perceptual judgment consistency.
• Findings underscore the importance of clinical experience and targeted listening training in speech-language pathology education.