Ellen-Marie Silverman

Speech—Language clinicians' and university students' impressions of women and girls who stutter

Abstract To identify impressions speech—language clinicians and university students have of females who stutter, a 47-scale semantic differential form was administered to members of each group to obtain their responses to eight hypothetical constructs, i.e., “A Girl,” “A Girl Who Stutters,” “A Boy,” “A Boy Who Stutters,” “A Woman,” “A Woman Who Stutters,” “A Man,” and “A Man Who Stutters.” Both groups were found to possess negative stereotypes for all four categories of stutterers. The nature of the stereotypes appeared to be influenced by a stutterers gender and relative age. Clinicians considered stuttering to exert a stronger negative impact on females and on children. Their strongest stereotype was of “A Girl Who Stutters.” University students considered stuttering to exert a stronger negative impact on males. Their stereotypes of stutterers seemed unaffected by the relative age of the stutterer. Their strongest stereotype was of “A Man Who Stutters.” Several theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Word Position and Grammatical Function in Relation to Preschoolers' Speech Disfluency.

Spontaneous speech samples were tape-recorded from 10 4-yr.-old nonstutterers in their nursery school classroom and in an interview situation. The samples were analyzed to determine whether the children tended to be disfluent on initial words of utterances and on pronouns and conjunctions. The tendency for beginning stutterers to stutter on such words is considered part of the symptomatology of Phase I, or beginning, stuttering. The children in this study demonstrated a statistically significant tendency in both situations to be disfluent on these words. Thus, the tendency to produce speech interruptions at the beginning of utterances and on pronouns and conjunctions appears to be a characteristic of young childrens speech production rather than an aspect of the symptomatology of beginning stuttering.

Demographic characteristics and treatment experiences of women and men who stutter

Abstract This paper reports interview data collected from ten men and ten women who stutter. The responses of the subjects tend to (a) highlight the multidimensionality of stuttering, (b) provide additional support for the conclusion drawn earlier of gender differences in stuttering symptomatology, and (c) raise questions about the manner in which stuttering is treated.

An Investigation of Sex-Bias in Classroom Teachers' Speech and Language Referrals

Kindergarten through sixth grade classroom teachers in four school districts completed questionnaires designed to determine whether they would be more likely to refer a boy than a girl with an iden...

REPLICATION OF "SPEECH FLUENCY FLUCTUATIONS DURING THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE"

This study tested the hypothesis suggested by our earlier research that the principal effect of heightened anxiety on speech fluency is an interference with language formulation. 20 women read contextual material aloud at ovulation (when the typical woman experiences her greatest feelings of well-being) and at premenstruation (when she experiences a significant increase in anxiety level). They were no less fluent at premenstruation than at ovulation. These data are consistent with the hypothesis tested.

Variability of stutterers' speech disfluency: the menstrual cycle.

The purpose of this study was to begin to explore the possibility that women who stutter may produce more speech disfluencies at premenstruation (when anxiety level has been reported highest) than at ovulation (when anxiety level has been reported lowest). Four speech samples were collected from each of 4 Ss, one at ovulation and one at premenstruation for two consecutive cycles. All four Ss produced more disfluencies premenstrually. The finding is consistent with the hypothesis that level of speech disfluency is positively related to level of anxiety in stutterers.

EFFECT OF THREAT OF SHOCK FOR BEING DISFLUENT ON FLUENCY OF NORMAL SPEAKERS

Each of 20 adult nonstutterers read a 330-word passage six times with a one minute pause between readings. Between the third and fourth reading or the fifth and sixth reading (determined by a table of random numbers) Ss were informed that at the conclusion of the next reading an electric shock would be administered for each instance of disfluency detected by E during that reading. Ss did not become less fluent as a consequence of the experimental condition. Their mean disfluency frequency during the threat-of-shock reading was lower than during the preceding one. Thus, threat of shock for being disfluent may be a condition which differentiates stutterers from nonstutterers since stutterers have been reported to become less fluent under this condition.

Bibliography of literature pertaining to the onset, development, and treatment of stuttering during the preschool years

Abstract This bibliography consists of clinical, experimental, and theoretical papers pertaining to the onset, development, and treatment of stuttering in children five- years old and younger. It is a downward extension of Silverman, F.H., Bibliography of literature pertaining to stuttering in elementary-school children, Journal of Fluency Disorders , 1978, 3, 87–102.