The reactions of elementary school children who stutter to social speech interactions

Abstract

The present study addresses the relationship between engagement within social interaction and stuttering in children. Forty elementary school children who stutter were interviewed and given various tests to assess their attitudes towards speech, stuttering severity and their engagement within social interaction. The parents and teachers of these children were asked to evaluate certain personal, social and educational behaviours. Results indicate that in contrast to many adults who stutter, many children who stutter may resist to resign from opportunities to engage in real social interactions. Results also indicate that social speech interactions at school might represent greater formative effects on self-perceived speech difficulties than speech interaction at home. Furthermore, the results support the view that many children may not perceive themselves as ?a stutterer? in the sense that they, as often is the case with adults who stutter, have resigned themselves to negative social interaction.

Key Words:

• stuttering, communication attitude, self-perception, coping, children, parents, teacher.