Changing Nonstuttering Preschool Children's Stuttering Attitudes

Abstract

Purpose Negative or uninformed stuttering attitudes proliferate among the general public, and bourgeoning research has shown that such attitudes might emerge as early as the preschool years. Much remains unknown about young children's stuttering attitudes, and conclusive recommendations to improve attitudes toward stuttering have yet to be advanced. This study sought to determine the effect of a new educational program on improving stuttering attitudes among preschool children using objective measures. Method Thirty-seven preschool children learned about stuttering and sensitive peer interactions by participating in the newly developed Attitude Change and Tolerance program. The program teaches children about human differences with an emphasis on stuttering and how to interact with people who stutter. Children's stuttering attitudes were measured using the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering/Child (Weidner & St. Louis, 2014) before and after the program. Results Pre–post comparisons showed statistically significant improvements in children's overall stuttering attitudes. In particular, children demonstrated gains relative to their perceptions of and reactions toward people who stutter. Conclusion This study provides empirical evidence that young children's stuttering attitudes can be improved using the Attitude Change and Tolerance program. In addition, it supports previous research that negative stuttering attitudes emerge as early as preschool.

A comparison of stuttering attitudes among nonstuttering children and parents in Bosnia & Herzegovina

“…Psychometric properties (i.e., test-retest reliability, internal consistency, construct, and concurrent validity), translatability, and ease of use have been confirmed in dozens of studies, which are summarized by St. Louis [10,26]. Weidner and St. Louis [12] developed the POSHA-S/Child, which has since been used to measure children's stuttering attitudes [16], detect change in attitudes following an intervention [14], and compare child and parent attitudes using the corresponding versions of the POSHA-S [11,22]. The PO-SHA-S/Child has been shown to hold satisfactory test-retest reliability [27] and can be administered orally or face-to-face to 9 to 11 year-olds [28].…”

“…As explained in the methodology section, the instrument closely parallels the adult version, but can be used with respondents as young as 3 years of age. Since its inception, the instrument has permitted attitude comparisons between cohorts of children and adults [13], and is sensitive to attitude change following an intervention [14]. To date, research using the POSHA-S/Child has provided information about the nature of children's stuttering attitudes and plausible explanations about why they change over the course of one's early childhood.…”

“…Based on this and previous research, it seems that preschool and kindergarten aged children are among those at "high risk" for negative stuttering attitudes, thus potentially warrant priority in educational efforts to mitigate negative stuttering attitudes. Weidner et al [14] reported an effective stuttering educational program for young children called the InterACT program [29], which might be considered in attitude betterment efforts. Educational programs, coupled with the collective -and persistent -efforts of researchers and practitioners, will be the necessary elements to ultimately improve children's stuttering attitudes and promote a more tolerant and accepting communication environment for people who stutter.…”

Personal Appraisals of Support from the Perspective of Polish, Slovak, and American Children Who Stutter

“…Various studies around the world including the USA, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Turkey, have used the Public Opinion Survey on Human Attributes -Stuttering/Child [St. Louis, Weidner, 2015] to better understand the nature and epidemiology of children's stuttering attitudes. Collective results confirmed children who stutter are often subject to unfavorable attitudes from their nonstuttering peers [Langevin, Packman, Onslow, 2009;Weidner et al, 2017;Weidner, St. Louis, Glover, 2018;Glover, St. Louis, Weidner, 2019;Weidner, Junuzovic-Zunic, St. Louis, 2020]. As a whole, nonstuttering children lack information about the disorder and specific training on how to sensitively respond to peers who stutter.…”

“…Although stuttering attitudes have been suggested to improve between preschool and the upper elementary years, misconceptions about the traits of people who stutter (e.g., being nervous and shy) and responses to stuttering (e.g., finishing words and saying slow down) have been noted across all age groups [Glover, St. Louis, Weidner, 2019;Weidner, Junuzovic-Zunic, St. Louis, 2020]. It should be noted, however, that typically fluent children were shown to be earnest in their desire to help children who stutter, despite lacking the specific skills in how to be a supportive listener [Weidner, St. Louis, Glover, 2018]. Thus, they need specific skills training on what to do and what not to do when interacting with a stuttering peer.…”