Self-Rating of Stuttering Severity as a Clinical Tool

Abstract

Scaling is a convenient and equipment-free means for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and clients to evaluate stuttering severity in everyday situations. This study investigated the extent to which the severity ratings of 10 adult stuttering speakers, made immediately after speaking and again from recordings 6 months later, agreed with ratings made by an SLP. For 9 of the 10 speakers, there was good agreement between their initial ratings and those of the SLP. For 8 of the 10 speakers, there was also good agreement between their initial ratings and those made from recordings 6 months later, indicating that the severity ratings made at the time of speaking were reliable. These findings support the use of the 9-point scale as a clinical measurement procedure.

Children and adolescents who stutter: Further investigation of anxiety

“…Participants rated the severity of their stuttering on a 9-point scale (1 = "no stuttering", 9 = "extremely severe stuttering"). Self-reported severity ratings have been shown to correlate with the severity ratings of speech-language pathologists in adults in the clinic (O'Brian, Packman, & Onslow, 2004) but this has not been demonstrated for the age groups in this study. However, self-rating provides a socially valid indication of stuttering severity in the real world and is appropriate for use in this study as participants' responses to the RCMAS were also self-generated.…”

“…Further research could investigate the extent to which self-reported severity ratings in children and adolescents correlate with the severity ratings of speech-language pathologists, similar to the study of O'Brian et al (2004) with adults.…”

Relationships Between Psychosocial Factors and Quality of Life for Adults Who Stutter

“…This scale has been used successfully as a reliable overall measure of stuttering severity in previous research (O'Brian et al, 2011;O'Brian, Packman, & Onslow, 2004). Self-rated stuttering severity was assessed using a unipolar 9-point Likert scale with ratings averaged across eight different speaking situations and higher scores indicating more severe physical stuttering.…”

The effect of SpeechEasy on stuttering frequency, speech rate, and speech naturalness

“…O'Brian, Packman and Onslow (2004) previously demonstrated that this scale is a reliable tool for self-evaluation of stuttering severity for 8 of 10 clients studied. In the present study, participant self-ratings were recorded immediately following the recording of oral reading and monologue samples in both the No Device and Device conditions.…”