After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (a) summarise empirical findings with regard to the relationship between communication attitudes and childhood stuttering; (b) describe the different instruments used to measure communication attitudes; (c) discuss the relationship between communication attitudes, age and gender.
Introduction
Research has revealed the presence of emotional, behavioral, and cognitive reactions in young children who stutter; however, prior studies have not examined the overall impact of stuttering on young children's lives. Such information is necessary for improving understanding of how stuttering affects young children and for ensuring appropriate early intervention.
Method
This study employed an adaptation of the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering for School-Age Children that was designed to ask parents about their perceptions of the impact of stuttering on their young children. Thirty-eight parents of young children who stutter (2–5 years of age) provided their perceptions of the impact of stuttering on their children. Parents rated how certain they were in their judgments using a 5-point scale to provide an indication of their confidence in proxy ratings of impact.
Results
Results indicated that, on average, parents perceived that stuttering affected their children negatively. Qualitatively, parents provided descriptions of the impact of stuttering on their children's quality of life, communication difficulties across people and situations, and reactions to stuttering; they also commented on their own feelings and strategies for handling impact. On average, parents perceived themselves to be certain in rating the impact of stuttering on their children.
Conclusions
Results indicated that parents identified adverse impact in their children's lives. Even though parents considered themselves to be certain in their impact ratings, clinicians and researchers should also assess the perspective of the children if appropriate. This is because present findings reveal that parents may not have insight into all aspects of impact, in particular, cognitive reactions to stuttering. Still, parents' perceptions of impact are important for clinicians to consider when giving recommendations for therapy, as they can provide important insight into the family's needs.
This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: Primary objective To assess the immediate and long-term effects of non-pharmacological interventions for stuttering on speech outcomes in children aged between birth and six years. Secondary objective To describe the relationship between intervention effects and participant characteristics (i.e. child age, child's communication attitudes and the impact stuttering has on the child's QoL). Non-pharmacological interventions for stuttering in children aged between birth and six years (Protocol)
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