Free tool · for parents

Intelligibility estimator

Think about the last two weeks. For each listener, pick how often they understand your child. The tool averages the ratings, weights unfamiliar listeners more heavily, and compares the result with age expectations.

Years

Months

How often does this listener understand your child?	Rating
You (parent or main caregiver)
Other family members who see the child often
Your child's friends
Teachers or daycare staff
Adults who know the child a little
Strangers

This tool is general information for families and students. It is not a screening or diagnostic tool, does not give individual advice, and is not a substitute for an assessment by a registered speech-language pathologist. If you are worried about your child's communication, Ontario families can self-refer to their local Preschool Speech and Language Program at no cost.

Sources: Coplan & Gleason (1988), Unclear speech: recognition and significance of unintelligible speech in preschool children, Pediatrics; McLeod, Crowe & Shahaeian (2015), Intelligibility in Context Scale: normative and validation data, LSHSS

Frequently asked questions

What is intelligibility?

How much of what a child says a listener can understand. It depends on the child's speech sounds, sentence length, voice and rate, and on how familiar the listener is with the child.

What is typical by age?

A widely used rule of thumb is that unfamiliar adults understand about 50 percent of a two-year-old, 75 percent of a three-year-old and nearly all of a four-year-old's speech. Parents understand more at every age.

Is this the Intelligibility in Context Scale?

No. The Intelligibility in Context Scale (McLeod, Harrison and McCormack) is a validated seven-item questionnaire available free for clinical use. This estimator uses the same idea of rating familiar and unfamiliar listeners but is simplified and not normed.

My child is clear with me but strangers struggle. Is that a problem?

A gap between familiar and unfamiliar listeners is normal, especially before four. If strangers understand well under half of a three-year-old or under three-quarters of a four-year-old, an assessment is reasonable.

Go further

Which sounds are expected at this age?Why speech can be hard to understand: phonological processes Articulation practice game When to see a speech-language pathologist

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