Communication attitudes in children who stutter: A meta-analytic review

Abstract

Background: This article presents a meta-analytic review of differences in communication attitudes between children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS).

Method: To be included in this review, the studies had to include a group of CWS and CWNS between the ages of 3-18 years and a measurement of communication attitudes. The journal articles were identified by using the key words stutter*, speech disfluenc*, fluency disorder*, and stammer* cross-referenced to awareness*, reaction*, attitude*, KiddyCAT, CAT, A-19 Scale, PASS and OASES.

Results: A total of 18 studies met the inclusion criteria for this meta-analysis. The results showed that CWS exhibit more negative communication attitudes than CWNS from the preschool years. The differences between the groups increased with age, but were not influenced by gender.

Conclusion: The results indicate that negative communication attitudes can be an effect of stuttering. Key issues requiring further investigation are whether communication attitudes differ as a function of age at stuttering onset and whether communication attitudes influence the development of stuttering.

Educational objectives: After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (a) summarise empirical findings with regard to the relationship between communication attitudes and childhood stuttering; (b) describe the different instruments used to measure communication attitudes; (c) discuss the relationship between communication attitudes, age and gender.

Keywords: Communication attitude; Meta-analysis; Speech-associated attitude; Stuttering.