Kenneth O. St. Louis

Changing adolescent attitudes toward stuttering.

PURPOSE Live oral or recorded video presentations on stuttering were delivered to high school students in order to determine the extent to which their attitudes toward stuttering could be improved. METHODS A classroom teacher administered the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) to two health classes before and after an oral live presentation by a person who stutters. She also gave the POSHA-S to two other similar classes before and after a True Life(®): I Stutter video presentation. The stuttering person in the oral condition was one of three people featured in the video. Also, following the video condition, students filled out the POSHA-S a third time after a short oral presentation by the same person who stutters. RESULTS Measured attitudes improved overall on the POSHA-S and on selected items. CONCLUSIONS High school students hold similar attitudes toward stuttering and stutterers as adults, and these attitudes can be improved, at least temporarily, by a presentation on stuttering but more via a live presentation than a professionally prepared video. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES (1) The reader will identify different ways to improve attitudes toward stuttering in high school students. (2) The reader will list advantages and disadvantages of live oral presentations and recorded video presentations as strategies to change attitudes toward stuttering. (3) The reader will identify characteristics of a speaker that can assist in attitude changes of high school students.

Public attitudes toward stuttering in Turkey: Probability versus convenience sampling

PURPOSE A Turkish translation of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) was used to compare probability versus convenience sampling to measure public attitudes toward stuttering. METHOD A convenience sample of adults in Eskişehir, Turkey was compared with two replicates of a school-based, probability cluster sampling scheme. RESULTS The two replicates of the probability sampling scheme yielded similar demographic samples, both of which were different from the convenience sample. Components of subscores on the POSHA-S were significantly different in more than half of the comparisons between convenience and probability samples, indicating important differences in public attitudes. CONCLUSIONS If POSHA-S users intend to generalize to specific geographic areas, results of this study indicate that probability sampling is a better research strategy than convenience sampling. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES The reader will be able to: (1) discuss the difference between convenience sampling and probability sampling; (2) describe a school-based probability sampling scheme; and (3) describe differences in POSHA-S results from convenience sampling versus probability sampling.

A descriptive study of speech, language, and hearing characteristics of school-aged stutterers

Abstract Stutterers and nonstutterers, grades 1–12, were chosen randomly from a data pool of nearly 39,000 school children from a National Speech and Hearing Survey (NSHS). One group of stutterers had moderate communicative deviations and another had severe deviations. Nonstuttering, correctly articulating, control subjects were also selected. NSHS data sheets and audiotaped speech and language samples for the three groups were compared with respect to disfluency, articulation, language, voice, hearing, and other characteristics. In addition, stutterers in grades 1–6 were compared with comparable stutterers from a previous study who were selected to have normal articulation and hearing. The results indicate clearly that young stutterers are likely to manifest other communicative impairments, most notably in articulation, voice, and language. It is hypothesized that the coexistence of articulation disorders with stuttering may be a useful criterion for subgrouping stutterers in future investigations.

The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes--Stuttering (POSHA-S): summary framework and empirical comparisons.

PURPOSE The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) was developed to make available worldwide a standard measure of public attitudes toward stuttering that is practical, reliable, valid, and translatable. Mean data from past field studies as comparisons for interpretation of POSHA-S results are reported. METHOD Means for POSHA-S items (converted to -100 to +100 scales), components comprising clusters of items, subscores comprising clusters of components, and Overall Stuttering Scores comprising two subscores for stuttering were generated from 64 samples, totaling 2876 respondents who completed experimental versions of the POSHA-S. DISCUSSION Lowest, highest, and median sample values, which vary with the addition of new sample data to the growing POSHA-S database archive, provide points of comparison for any potential sample rather than predetermined values. CONCLUSIONS The final POSHA-S, together with an ongoing and growing archive, can provide increasingly meaningful comparisons for stakeholders measuring public attitudes toward stuttering. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES (1) Describe the subscores and components of the POSHA-S, (2) describe the Overall Stuttering Score of the POSHA-S, and (3) describe the format for interpretation of the POSHA-S.

Measuring Attitudes toward Stuttering: English-to-French Translations in Canada and Cameroon.

PURPOSE A field test of a survey instrument under development, the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes, Experimental Edition (POSHA-E), designed to investigate language-, culture-, and nation-specific public opinions about stuttering is reported. This investigation compared English and French versions of the POSHA-E in widely disparate cultures to explore country versus language influences. METHODS 120 experimental respondents rated POSHA-E items on 1-9 equal-appearing interval scales: 30 in English and 30 in French in both Canada and Cameroon. Comparisons were made with 30 matched, monolingual, American respondents in English only. RESULTS Between-country differences for stuttering in experimental groups were much larger than between-language differences. CONCLUSIONS The POSHA-E can be translated to another language, i.e. French, without significant change in item meaning and interpretation in two divergent cultures, advancing the development and validity of an instrument that can be used in different language and cultural settings worldwide. LEARNING OUTCOMES Readers of this article should be able to describe the purpose of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes (POSHA); describe translation and back-translation procedures for public opinion surveys to be used internationally; discuss cultural and linguistic differences between convenience samples from Ottawa, Canada and Douala, Cameroon; and compare the results of language versus country explanations of the results of this two-country investigation.

Male versus female attitudes toward stuttering

PURPOSE The study investigated the extent to which differences existed between public attitudes of males versus females. METHOD One hundred adults, 50 males and 50 females, were chosen at random from each of 50 study samples comprising a total of 3371 respondents in a database archive who had completed the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attribute-Stuttering (POSHA-S). None of the database samples included speech-language pathology students/practitioners or self-identified people who stutter. RESULTS Public attitudes were very similar between male and female respondents. None of the standard POSHA-S comparisons were significantly different statistically, even though a few trends for differences were observed between the males and females. CONCLUSIONS Attitudes as toward stuttering of adult males and females, as measured by the POSHA-S, are very similar. LEARNING OUTCOMES Readers of this article should be able to: describe the framework for reporting the results of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S); describe similarities and differences between attitudes toward stuttering of adult males and females on the POSHA-S.

Studies of cluttering: Disfluency and language measures in young possible clutterers and stutterers☆

Abstract Three matched groups of possible clutterers (selected according to fluency and articulation deviations—but not stuttering), stutterers, and controls were selected randomly from a large pool of data gathered nationwide in 1968–1969. Taped spontaneous speech samples were analyzed according to 11 disfluency variables and seven language measures. Overall, the results indicated that the three groups were heterogeneous with respect to disfluency and language. Specifically, possible clutterers, like stutterers, were characterized by abnormally high frequencies of word and phrase repetitions. By contrast, possible clutterers had far fewer sound/ syllable repetitions, prolongations, and instances of struggle than stutterers. On language measures, possible clutterers were lower than stutterers and controls, particularly on measures of utterance completeness and complexity. As a first step in deriving an empirically based definition and description of cluttering, this study was successful. Nonempirical reports of disfluency and language differences between clutterers and stutterers from the literature were essentially confirmed.

Research and development on a public attitude instrument for stuttering.

UNLABELLED This paper summarizes research associated with the development of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S), a survey instrument designed to provide a worldwide standard measure of public attitudes toward stuttering. Pilot studies with early experimental prototypes of the POSHA-S are summarized that relate to questionnaire rating scale prototypes, test-retest reliability, construct validity, item analysis and final item selection, translation to other languages, internal consistency, sampling procedures, manner of administration, and sample size. Future research and public service uses of the POSHA-S are discussed, especially for comparisons using its growing database archive. LEARNING OUTCOMES Readers of this article should be able to: (1) describe the purposes of the International Project on Attitudes Toward Human Attributes (IPATHA) initiative, (2) describe procedures to determine reliability and validity of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S), (3) describe factor analysis and other strategies to select items from the POSHA-E1 and POSHA-E2 pilot studies for the final POSHA-S, and (4) describe uses of the POSHA-S database archive in studies of public attitudes toward stuttering.

Stuttering attitudes among Turkish family generations and neighbors from representative samples.

PURPOSE Attitudes toward stuttering, measured by the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S), are compared among (a) two different representative samples; (b) family generations (children, parents, and either grandparents or uncles and aunts) and neighbors; (c) children, parents, grandparents/adult relatives, and neighbors of the same family/neighbor units vs. individuals from different family/neighbor units; and (d) attitudes from one Turkish city with an international database archive. METHODS Following a school-based, three-stage, cluster probability sampling scheme, two sets of children, parents, grandparents/adult relatives, and neighbors (50 each) in Eskişehir, Turkey (PROB1 and PROB2) completed Turkish translations of the POSHA-S. The POSHA-S measures attitudes toward stuttering within the context of other attributes, such as obesity and mental illness. RESULTS Both replicates of the sampling procedure yielded strikingly similar attitudes for stuttering between children, parents, grandparents/adult relatives, and neighbors in PROB1 vs. PROB2, and between all pair-wise comparisons within PROB1 and PROB2. By contrast, attitudes toward obesity and mental illness were dissimilar. Correlations were small to moderate among attitudes of the same family/neighbor units but were essentially nonexistent between different family/neighbor units. Attitudes toward stuttering in Eskişehir were estimated to be less positive than attitudes from a wide range of samples around the world, although exceptions occurred. CONCLUSIONS A school-based probability sampling procedure yielded consistent findings that are likely different from results from convenience samples. Families appear to be an important influence in determining public attitudes toward stuttering and other human attributes. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES The reader will be able to: (i) identify similarities and differences among attitudes toward stuttering across generations; (ii) identify similarities and differences among attitudes toward stuttering in Turkey vs. other places in the world; (iii) describe a school-based probability sampling scheme; (iv) describe advantages of using a standard instrument to measure public attitudes toward stuttering.

Disfluencies in cluttered speech

UNLABELLED The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and frequency of occurrence of disfluencies, as they occur in singletons and in clusters, in the conversational speech of individuals who clutter compared to typical speakers. Except for two disfluency types (revisions in clusters, and word repetitions in clusters) nearly all disfluency types were virtually indistinguishable in frequency of occurrence between the two groups. These findings shed light on cluttering in several respects, foremost of which is that it provides documentation on the nature of disfluencies in cluttering. Findings also have implications for our understanding of the relationship between cluttering and typical speech, cluttering and stuttering, the Cluttering Spectrum Hypothesis, as well as the Lowest Common Denominator definition of cluttering. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES At the end of this activity the reader will be able to: (a) identify types of disfluency associated with cluttered speech; (b) contrast disfluencies in cluttered speech with those associated with stuttering; (c) compare the disfluencies of typical speakers with those of cluttering; (d) explain the perceptual nature of cluttering.