The Behavior Assessment Battery: a preliminary study of non-stuttering Pakistani grade-school children

In recent years, the importance of a multimodal approach to the assessment of the person who stutters (PWS) has become increasingly recognized. The Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB), which is a normed test procedure developed by G. Brutten, makes it possible to assess the multidimensional facets of this disorder. The emotional and speech-disruptive components that differentiate one who stutters from one who does not (PWNS) are evaluated by means of the Speech Situation Checklist (SSC), their use of behaviours secondary to stuttering are assessed through the Behavior Checklist (BCL) and the person's speech-related attitude is determined via the Communication Attitude Test (CAT). Each of these BAB tests has been shown to be a reliable and valid measure whose obtained normative data are essentially equivalent in Western countries.

Because of the lack of normative data on children from non-Western cultures, the present preliminary study was aimed to investigate if the affective, behavioural and cognitive reports of non-stuttering Pakistani children on the BAB measures are like those of their Western peers.

Forty-five non-stuttering Pakistani children between the ages of 8 and 11 were administered the SSC, BCL and CAT.

As in previous studies, the mean score of the normally fluent children on each of the BAB tests fell into the lower end of the possible distribution of scores. Intercorrelations between the different tests were statistically significant.

Although the BCL and CAT results were similar to those found in Western-based investigations, the emotional reaction and speech disruption scores on the SSC reported by Pakistani children sampled were numerically higher to an extent that is noteworthy. The latter finding suggests that this particular BAB measure might be affected by cultural differences. It points to the possibility that the norms of test procedures, such as the BAB, might not be fully appropriate for use in other than Western cultures.