Applying the FITI (Functional Importance to Intelligibility) framework to children's speech: Introducing KITI

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) 2026 Annual Convention, Indianapolis, IN Technical Session How do we decide which speech sounds to prioritize in speech assessment for school-age children? This technical clinical session introduces KITI, a novel set of speech stimuli designed for consonant production assessment in this population. We begin with an overview of the Functional Importance to Intelligibility (FITI) framework. By applying this framework to words tailored to school-age children’s acquisition, we demonstrate how KITI achieves broader allophonic coverage than current resources, with consonants organized by their importance to intelligibility. Additionally, comparisons between KITI words and adult FITI words reveal which positional contexts are of low-priority specifically for children. Attendees will be provided with practical clinical tools designed to guide the prioritization of target consonants school-age children’s assessment and intervention.