Alexia Huggans, Mikaela Martinez, Katherine Winters, MA, CCC-SLP, and Courtney T. Byrd, PhD, CC-SLP
Stuttering is a multifactorial neurophysiological communication disorder characterized by overt disruptions to fluent speech that may be accompanied by negative attitudes toward stuttering, speaking, and communication. Children as young as two years are aware of and negatively impacted by their stuttering. Preschool-age children who stutter report significantly more negative communication attitudes than their fluent peers. Interestingly, though parents of preschool and school-age children who stutter can accurately report subtle weaknesses in their child’s language skills and their child’s stuttering frequency, research shows that parents of school-age children inaccurately report their school-age child’s communication attitude. Specifically, parents of school-age children who stutter overestimate their child’s negative communication attitude. Thus, speech-language pathologists cannot rely on parent report of communication attitude for school-age children who stutter. It is unknown if parents of preschool-age children who stutter accurately perceive their child’s communication attitude or if they also overestimate negative attitudes toward stuttering and communication, similar to parents of school-age children. This information is critical, as parents play an integral role in the identification, assessment, and treatment for preschool-age children who stutter. The purpose of the present study is to explore parent perception of their preschool-age child who stutters’ communication attitude and the influence of stuttering frequency on parent perception.
Comments
This is fascinating! Why do you think there might be a difference between parents of preschool and of school-age children? – Brooke Rich
This is really interesting, and it seems that it might have clinical implications for working with preschool-age children. What might be a next step in continuing to study the possible clinical implications of this? – Rob Reichle
Thank you! Well first we would want to increase our sample size. But, I think that one interesting direction we could take our research is seeing if the parent’s occupation impacts the accuracy in which they perceive their child’s communication attitude. – Alexia Huggans