Presentation – CVC2026-623

Intelligibility in Context Scale: A speech screening tool for kindergarten students in Tasmania

Sharynne McLeod, Children’s Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Sarah Verdon, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Felicity Laurence, Catholic Education Tasmania, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Lisa Johnson, Catholic Education Tasmania, Australia

Kathryn Crowe, Charles Sturt University, Australia; University of Iceland, Iceland

Nicola Ivory, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Background: Children’s speech skills are associated with literacy and socialisation outcomes. At school entry, it is beneficial to screen children’s speech to identify which children require additional assessment and intervention. The Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) is a free seven-item parent-report questionnaire with evidence regarding validity and reliability as a primary screening tool where children’s speech is given an average rating from 1 (never intelligible) to 5 (always intelligible).

Aim: To consider the validity of the ICS as a speech screening tool for Australian children.

Method/approach: Participants were 545 Kindergarten students from 31 Catholic schools in Tasmania assessed in 2025. They were aged 49 to 62 months (M=56.21) and 50.64% were males. Most (87.34%) spoke one language at home, some (10.09%) identified as Indigenous Australians, and some (18.13%) had a disability. Parents (mostly mothers, 85.69%) completed the ICS and answered questions regarding speech and language concerns. The conduct of the research was approved by the Charles Sturt University Human Research Ethics Committee (H25025).

Results/findings: The average ICS total score was 4.28 (SD=0.65), indicating students were usually (4) to always (5) intelligible. ICS scores were significantly influenced by the students’ sex and disability status, and were not significantly influenced by the number of languages spoken by the students or the school’s Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage. Parents indicated they were more often able to understand their child (M=4.61) than immediate family members (M=4.42), teachers (M=4.28), friends (M=4.27), extended family members (M=4.25), acquaintances (M=4.13), and strangers (M=4.06).

Conclusion: On average, these students were usually to always intelligible. Although there were similarities to previously published data, the average score was slightly lower (4.28; SD=0.65) than that of NSW children attending early childhood education (4.4; SD=0.7). Scores may have been impacted by sociodemographic differences between the two populations, so future research is recommended.

Implications for children and families: When parents were concerned about their children’s speech, children were “sometimes intelligible” (3.53/5). When parents were NOT concerned about their children's speech, the average ICS score was significantly higher (4.56/5), and children were “usually” or “always intelligible”.

Implications for practitioners: These data suggest that the ICS may be a useful screening tool for young students across a school district.

Funding: This research was funded by a grant from Catholic Education Tasmania.

Keywords: speech, screening, intelligibility

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: