Each Child Matters: Contributing Factors to Speech-Language Pathologists' Perceptions of Stuttering Therapy

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) often report feeling less confident treating children who stutter. Yet, prior research has focused on SLPs' perceptions of groups, rather than an individual child who stutters. The aim of this study was to assess SLPs' perceptions of the therapy they provide to an individual child who stutters and to identify key factors underlying these perceptions.

A total of 115 SLPs rated their general experience, knowledge, and confidence related to stuttering treatment and rated how well they perceived therapy to be going for an individual child who stutters. SLPs substantiated their perceptions of therapy through an open-ended prompt. Ordinal logistic regression models incorporated SLPs' self-ratings as predictors of their ratings of an individual child's therapy. Open-ended responses were analyzed thematically to identify novel factors underlying SLP opinions of a child's therapy.

Most SLPs reported therapy to be going well or very well for an individual child. Confidence addressing negative thoughts and feelings about stuttering, addressing bullying, and adjusting a stuttering treatment plan predicted more positive perceptions of a child's stuttering therapy. Qualitative findings revealed that SLPs considered the child's relationship with stuttering, their positive attributes and support system, their speech, and therapeutic processes when determining how well therapy was going.

SLPs tended to view stuttering therapy more positively when reflecting on an individual child, compared to prior studies asking them to reflect on stuttering in general or on groups of individuals who stutter. SLPs also framed a child's stuttering therapy holistically, emphasizing not only speech components but also the child's psychosocial experience, relationships, and personal attributes as factors underlying their perceptions of therapy.