1,072
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Exploring teachers’ attitudes: knowledge and classroom strategies for children who stutter in New Zealand

, , , , , , & ORCID Icon show all
Pages 28-37 | Received 08 Oct 2019, Accepted 29 Mar 2020, Published online: 05 Jun 2020
 

ABSTRACT

Background: Stuttering is associated with negative stereotypes and attitudes. Teachers play a pivotal role in children’s lives but need to be well educated about stuttering in order to support children in the classroom. This study (i) explored New Zealand teachers’ attitudes and knowledge and (ii) piloted an online education package for teachers.

Method: In phase one, 59 teachers (35 primary and 24 secondary) completed an online survey examining their attitudes and knowledge of stuttering and strategies for classroom management. In phase two, 27 primary school teachers completed a short online education package including a fact sheet and educational video ‘Wait wait … I’m not finished yet’ (Michael Palin Centre, 2018). Teachers completed the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering POSHA-S [Abdalla, F. A., & Louis, K. O. S. (2012). Arab school teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and reactions regarding stuttering. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 37(1), 54–69 ] before and after the education package.

Results: The teachers surveyed had a wide range of teaching experience (1—46 years) and displayed positive attitudes to stuttering. They had gaps in their knowledge about the cause of stuttering. Teachers frequently rated ‘unsure’ to statements relating to the use of classroom strategies. The online education package was well received and considered valuable in understanding stuttering. Attitudes and knowledge shifted in accuracy and certainty.

Conclusion: The New Zealand teachers in this study had positive attitudes but knowledge gaps. Their toolbox of appropriate classroom strategies was limited. A short online education package can enable teachers to make a positive shift in attitudes and knowledge and reflect on new strategies to use in their current classrooms. Stuttering resources should be available to all teachers .

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the speech-language therapists at the Stuttering Treatment and Research Trust (START, Auckland, New Zealand) for their support with pilot testing and fact sheet development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 65.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 283.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.