Abstract:

Background:
One of the suitable tools used as a screening for preschool children with speech sound disorders at the early age is an assessment of speech intelligibility. Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS), developed by McLeod, Harrison, McCormack in 2012, has been translated into over 60 languages. It is a parent-report 5-point scale which aims to assess the functional intelligibility of the child with different communication partners based on the parents´ perception. The intelligibility of speech is one of the crucial component of the quality of communication between not only a child and the parents, but also between a child and teachers, as well other professionals directly involved in the assessment or intervention of a child, or the child´s preschool (or later school) education. The sooner the problem of low intelligibility of speech is identified, the better the prognosis of a correction of an oral speech of the child may be. However, accessible, but objective tools for the evaluation of the speech intelligibility of a child must be created or adapted, especially in countries where any standardized are not available.

Aim:
To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Czech version of the ICS (ICS-Cz), especially its reliability and validity, and to investigate whether it is a useful tool for distinguishing between typically developing (TD) preschool children and those with speech sound disorder (SSD).

Method:
Monolingual children with SSD and TD (age range 4;6 – 5;0) were assessed by speech-language therapists (SLTs). Based on the word repetition task the percentage of consonant correct (PCC-R), and Articulation Competence Index (ACI) were computed. Parents completed the ICS-Cz scale independently. Due to the restrictions relating to the spread of the Covid-19 disease the data were partially obtained via ZOOM platform online.

Results:
The research is still ongoing. To date, we have examined altogether 14 children for whom the data are provided. The number of examined children will be increased to at least 40. The discriminatory ability of the ICS-Cz was indicated by significantly lower mean scores for the SSD group (M = 29, SD 1.9) than the TD group (M = 34, SD = 1.6). Significant differences in scores were not identified on the basis of sex. Criterion validity was established via positive correlation between the ICS-Cz and PCC-R (r = 0,72). The ICS-cz had excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0,91). There were no significant differences in the ICS-Cz scores between mother´s and father´s perception.

Conclusions:
The discrimination ability of the ICS-Cz was confirmed as well as the overall good psychometric properties. If acknowledged with a larger sample, we could conclude that the ICS-Cz can be used for clinical and research purposes with Czech-speaking children. The ICS-Cz could also be suitable for kindergarten teachers who can recommend more detailed examination by SLT.

Keywords:

Preschool age, speech sound disorder, functional intelligibility, Intelligibility in Context Scale, reliability, validity, speech-language therapy, logopedics.