Background
Accurate and detailed records of children's speech are a critical component of competent service delivery in speech–language pathology/speech and language therapy (SLP/SLT). Previous research has shown that during speech‐sound acquisition, children gradually learn to produce sounds in adult‐like manners. Continuous rating scales are a way to track this gradual learning.
Aims
To examine whether clinical experience affects the ability and willingness to rate children's speech production using continuous rating scales.
Methods & Procedures
An online survey was administered to 81 US‐based SLPs/SLTs, binned into more‐ and less‐experienced groups, and 20 non‐SLPs/SLTs. The survey included a speech‐sound rating task in which participants rated the production of place of articulation in children's productions of word‐initial /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /d/, /ɡ/, /t/ and /k/ on a nine‐point equally appearing interval scale. We examined the extent to which these were accurate (i.e., the extent to which they matched laboratory measures of production characteristics) and the extent to which the ratings were gradual (i.e., they used the entire rating scales, rather than just the endpoints).
Main Contribution
There were no consistent differences between non‐SLPs/SLTs, less‐experienced SLPs/SLTs and more‐experienced SLPs/SLTs in a measure of the accuracy of responses. More consistent differences were found in the extent to which listeners used the endpoints of the scale: greater experience was associated with greater use of the endpoint values.
Conclusions & Implications
More‐experienced SLPs/SLTs are less likely to use the entire range of continuous rating scales to rate children's speech accuracy than less‐experienced SLPs/SLTs or clinically untrained listeners. Implications for service delivery are discussed.