Speech-Language Pathologists’ Knowledge and Competence Regarding Percentage of Consonants Correct

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) knowledge and competence using Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC). Participants were recruited through posts on social media and message boards for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Special Interest Groups. In addition, surveys were emailed via the ASHA membership directory to SLPs in selected states who reported working in settings with a primarily pediatric population. The majority of SLPs reported a lack of academic and clinical training in the area of PCC. Participants demonstrated limited knowledge of the rules for calculating PCC in addition to decreased calculation ability and confidence. Because PCC is well-validated, SLPs would benefit from increased clinical and academic exposure to the measure; however, as many report that they do not use PCC, this calls into question its clinical practicality. The question remains if there is a need for a more expedient process by which to objectively quantify severity, such as use of an automated metric.