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Parental perceptions of children's communicative development at stuttering onset
1Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA. nratner@hesp.umd.edu
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|November 4, 2000
Summary
Parents of young children who stutter often accurately perceive their child's communication challenges. However, parents of fluent children may overestimate their child's language skills, impacting early intervention for stuttering.
Area of Science:
- Speech and Language Pathology
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Pediatrics
Background:
- Clinical observations suggest a mismatch between parental expectations and the actual communication abilities of young children who stutter.
- Understanding this dynamic is crucial for effective early intervention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate parental expectations of communication abilities in children near stuttering onset.
- To compare these expectations with the objectively measured language skills of children who stutter and their fluent peers.
Main Methods:
- Assessed language abilities in 15 children with early stuttering symptoms and 15 matched fluent children using standardized tests and language samples.
- Administered parent-report measures of communicative development to parents of all participating children.
Main Results:
- Children who stutter demonstrated generally lower performance across all speech and language measures.
- Parents of children who stuttered showed accurate attunement to their child's performance.
- Parents of non-stuttering children were less accurate in predicting their child's communicative abilities.
Conclusions:
- Parental perception is closely aligned with the communication realities of children who stutter.
- Discrepancies in parental perception may exist for fluent children, potentially influencing clinical guidance.
- Findings inform clinical advisement for parents of young children experiencing stuttering.