Speech and communication classification of children with cerebral palsy: Novice rater agreement and clinical utility.

Purpose: To examine novice inter-rater agreement and clinical utility perspectives for speech and communication classification of children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Method: Twenty-one clinicians (speech-language pathologists [SLPs] = 11; physiotherapists [PTs] = 5; occupational therapists [OTs] = 5) novice to the Viking Speech Scale (VSS), Functional Communication Classification System (FCCS), and Communication Function Classification System (CFCS) rated eight unfamiliar children with CP (8-16 years) following classification orientation. Inter-rater agreement was examined between (a) novices, (b) novice SLPs vs.