Welcome to the Variability in Child Speech (VariCS) project – Advancing our understanding of variability in child speech development.

What is the aim of this project?

Speaking is one of the most complex motor skill humans perform. Learning to speak requires balancing several speech production mechanisms and children vary considerably in how quickly they master this protracted process.

This longitudinal project will investigate how primary school aged children’s speech develops over time. We aim to determine the extent to which speech development varies between typically developing children, and we will use this information to identify those children in the wider community who may need support to develop their speech.