Purpose
The goals of this study were to determine whether young children who stutter (CWS) perceive their own competence and social acceptance differently than young children who do not stutter (CWNS), and to identify the predictors of perceived competence and social acceptance in young speakers.
Method
We administered the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA; Harter & Pike, 1984) to 13 CWS and 14 CWNS and examined group differences. We also collected information on the children's genders, temperaments, stuttering frequencies, language abilities, and phonological skills to identify which of these factors predicted PSPCSA scores.
Results
CWS, as a group, did not differ from CWNS in their perceived general competence or social acceptance. Gender predicted scores of perceived general competence, and stuttering frequency predicted perceived social acceptance. Temperament, language abilities, and phonological skills were not significant predictors of perceived competence or social acceptance in our sample.
Conclusions
While CWS did not significantly differ from CWNS in terms of perceived competence and social acceptance, when both talker groups were considered together, girls self-reported greater perceived competence than boys. Further, lower stuttering frequency was associated with greater perceived social acceptance. These preliminary findings provide motivation for further empirical study of the psychosocial components of childhood stuttering.
Purpose: This qualitative analysis aimed to understand therapy outcomes from the viewpoint of children who have completed an intensive ten-day stuttering therapy program. There have been reports of quantitative outcomes of stuttering therapy (e.g., changes in stuttering frequency, changes in OASES scores), but there is a gap in the literature regarding children's views on therapeutic progress when provided with open-ended prompts. Methods: Seven children who stutter (mean age = 12;1, range 11;10-14;3), 6 males and 1 female, were prompted to answer the questions "what is going well?" and "what are small signs of progress?". These questions were answered on the first day of therapy and the last day of therapy (day 10) during individual face-to-face Solution Focused Brief Therapy (de Shazer, 1985) interviews with a skilled clinician. The responses were then phenomenologically analysed to uncover primary categories and subcategories. Results: Phenomenological analysis revealed that communication abilities, adaptive affective/cognitive status, and adequate social support were the three primary categories that children attributed to "what is going well" at both day 1 and day 10. Changes in communication, adaptive affective/cognitive status, and relaxed bodily state were the three primary categories related to "what are small signs of progress" at both day 1 and day 10. Conclusions: This insight into how children view their own competency and understand the steps needed to make positive changes is meaningful for clinicians working with children in this age group who stutter in order to inform clinical decision making and guide therapeutic activities. The results implicate the importance of helping children 1) realize positive aspects of the situation and 2) provide specific, detailed accounts of their goals so that goal-directed therapeutic progress can take place.
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