Exploring Assessment of Situational Intelligibility in Children with and without Speech-Language Disorders

Parents of young children typically respond to their child’s communications with language that is syntactically and semantically appropriate to what the child said. However, parents of children with speech-language disorders (SLD) may not always understand their child and so may not respond to the child’s communication attempts in a language-promoting manner. The goal of the present study is to explore the use of a new questionnaire about children’s situational intelligibility, the Caregiver/Parent Understanding-the-Child Questionnaire (CPUCQ). The CPUCQ asks parents to respond to 31 common communication situations, ranging from saying “Thank you” to telling a story. Parents indicate the child’s mode of communication in each situation (Speech only, Speech plus gesture, Gesture only, or Child does not do this), and they also rate how well they understand the child. The CPUCQ and various language measures were administered to 54 typically developing (TD) children and 34 children with SLD in the age range 2;0 – 6;8. Both groups showed developmental change over the age range in the mode of communication and in the understandability ratings. Further study of the CPUCQ as an assessment instrument is warranted, particularly as it may provide valuable information that can be used clinically to determine treatment goals.