Ellen M. Kelly

Academic and Clinical Preparation and Practices of School Speech-Language Pathologists with People Who Stutter.

One-hundred-fifty-seven Indiana school speech-language pathologists responded to a survey regarding their educational and clinical preparation and their current clinical practices with people who s...

Parents as Partners: Including Mothers and Fathers in the Treatment of Children Who Stutter.

Parents are frequently included in our intervention methods with children who stutter. However, if we examine the research and clinical literature, we find that we do not distinguish between the roles of mothers and fathers in our diagnosis and intervention procedures. Evidence that mothers and fathers may differ in their interactions with children, in general, and children who stutter, in particular, will be presented. Implications of these findings for our clinical practices will be discussed. By doing so, a case will be made for including both mothers and fathers as partners in the treatment of children who stutter.

Modeling stuttering etiology: Clarifying levels of description and measurement

Abstract The clarity and applicability of the “demands and capacities model” (DCM) of stuttering development has been challenged by a number of investigators. In this article, both the helpful and deleterious aspects of the DCM are discussed with a view toward the complexity and utility of multifactorial models of stuttering in general. Issues related to the description and measurement of pertinent variables and two promising multifactorial characterizations of stuttering development are highlighted.

The Influence of Self-Disclosure on School-Age Childrens Perceptionsof Children Who Stutter

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether school-age observer perceptions of children who stutter varied based upon the presence or absence of a self-disclosure statement. The secondary purpose was to determine if school-age observer perceptions were susceptible to the same gender bias observed in adult males versus females who stutter. Method: Observers (N=130) were randomly assigned to view two of four possible videos (i.e., male selfdisclosure, male no self-disclosure, female self-disclosure, and female no self-disclosure). Immediately after viewing both videos, observers completed a survey assessing their perceptions of the speakers. Results: Observers were significantly more likely to select self-disclosure videos as more friendly and they reported being less distracted when they were viewing videos in which the speakers self-disclosed, when controlling for observer and speaker gender. Additionally, when controlling for self-disclosure and observer gender, observers were more likely to choose the female speaker as more friendly and intelligent compared to the male speaker and they were also more likely to select the male speaker as more unfriendly and unintelligent compared to the female speaker. Conclusion: Results from this study lend further support regarding the effectiveness of self-disclosure as a technique that children who stutter can employ in order to positively influence listener perceptions.

The Function of Repeating: The Relation between Word Class and Repetition Type in Developmental Stuttering.

BACKGROUND It is already known that preschool-age children who stutter (CWS) tend to stutter on function words at the beginning of sentences. It is also known that phonological errors potentially resulting in part-word repetitions tend to occur on content words. However, the precise relation between word class and repetition type in preschool-age stuttering is unknown. AIMS To investigate repetitions associated with monosyllabic words in preschool-age CWS. Specifically, it was hypothesized that repetition type should vary according to word class in preschool-age CWS and children who do not stutter (CWNS). METHODS & PROCEDURES Thirteen preschool-age CWS and 15 preschool-age CWNS produced age-appropriate narratives, which were transcribed and coded for part-word repetitions (PWR) and whole-word repetitions (WWR) occurring on monosyllabic words. Each repetition type was also coded for word class (i.e., function versus content). OUTCOMES & RESULTS Results indicated that although CWS and CWNS were significantly more likely to produce PWR on content words, this tendency did not differ between the two talker groups. Further, CWS and CWNS did not differ in their tendencies to produce PWR versus WWR overall, but the tendency to produce repetitions on function words was significantly greater for CWS versus CWNS. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS Findings are taken to suggest that repetitions of monosyllabic words in young children are not easily explained from the perspective of phonological errors, but may instead be considered from an incremental planning of speech perspective.