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© 2017, © 2017 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. Purpose: During early childhood, it is important to identify which children require intervention before they face the increased demands of school. This study aimed to: (1) compare parents’ and educators’ concerns, (2) examine inter-rater reliability between parents’ and educators’ concerns and (3) determine the group difference between level of concern and children’s performance on clinical testing. Method: Parents and educators of 1205 4- to 5-year-old children in the Sound Start Study completed the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status. Children whose parents/educators were concerned about speech and language underwent direct assessment measuring speech accuracy (n = 275), receptive vocabulary (n = 131) and language (n = 274). Result: More parents/educators were concerned about children’s speech and expressive language, than behaviour, social–emotional, school readiness, receptive language, self-help, fine motor and gross motor skills. Parents’ and educators’ responses were significantly correlated (except gross motor). Parents’ and educators’ level of concern about expressive speech and language was significantly correlated with speech accuracy on direct assessment. Educators’ level of concern was significantly correlated with a screening measure of language. Scores on a test of receptive vocabulary significantly differed between those with concern and those without. Conclusion: Children’s communication skills concerned more parents and educators than other aspects of development and these concerns generally aligned with clinical testing.

This prospective longitudinal population study observed the speech of 741 children at the ages of 2, 5 and 8 years. At the age of 8, 132 children were categorized as speech impaired. There was stro...

This paper reports on the development and evaluation of a software program aimed at assisting children with phonological impairment. An experimental approach was used whereby children's speech output was assessed pre- and post-therapy. Children were randomly assigned to a computer, a tabletop or a no therapy group. Those children receiving the computer therapy were exposed to an experimental software program that mirrored the tabletop activities using interactive computer games. The results showed no significant difference between any of the three groups with regard to change in speech output. These results may relate to the amount and frequency of therapy given and also to the heterogeneous nature of children included in the study. There was considerable variation in individual performance across all three groups and the data were therefore analysed to look for patterns that might predict performance. Stimulability and gender were identified as possible predictors. Female children and those who were able to produce a greater number of consonant speech sounds in isolation were more likely to make progress in their speech output. Future research might use a similar methodology to compare the therapy conditions but with a more homogenous group in terms of stimulability and using a greater intensity of intervention.