Speech Clinicians' Conceptions of Boys and Men Who Stutter

Abstract

Speech clinicians were asked to write adjectives they felt best described the adult male stutterer. Their responses were compared with the same information obtained about elementary school-aged boys who stutter. Many of the same adjectives were listed for both boys and men, indicating a fairly well established stereotype of a “stutterer,” regardless of age. Furthermore, most of these adjectives were judged to be undesirable personality characteristics for males. When the adjectives were grouped together into broad behavior categories, approximately 75% of the clinicians listed adjectives that grouped within the category of “nervous or fearful,” and 64% listed those that were included in the category of “shy and insecure.” Interestingly, only 31% of the clinicians listed adjectives that reflected “abnormalities in speech.” These data have importance for the clinician who sits for the first time across the clinical desk and begins to work with a stutterer.

Anxiety levels in adolescents who stutter

“…Studies support the notion that children and adolescents who stutter are stereotyped as more anxious, stressed or nervous than their more fluent counterparts (Crowe & Walton, 1981;Ham, 1990;Ruscello et al, 1994;Turnbaugh et al, 1979;Woods & Williams, 1971). The current findings make an important contribution about anxiety and stuttering in adolescents, especially given the limited number of studies published.…”

“…Stuttering is an unpredictable disorder (Bloodstein, 1995;Guitar, 2005;Manning, 2001;Shapiro, 1999) with conflicting and variable responses from fluent communication partners and reported negative communication experiences (Bebout & Bradford, 1992;Ham, 1990;Ruscello, Lass, Schmitt, & Pannbacker, 1994;Turnbaugh, Guitar, & Hoffman, 1979;Woods & Williams, 1971). Data from qualitative studies suggest suffering, helplessness, shame, and stigma may be core experiences for some adults who stutter (Corcoran & Stewart, 1998;Crichton-Smith, 2002;Klompas & Ross, 2004).…”

Peer Perceptions of Normal and Voice-Disordered Children

“…They found that clinicians with more experience in working with stutter ing boys usually listed more characteristics than those with less experience. Since the fre quency of reported characteristics is related to the strength of a perceived stereotype [Woods and Williams, 1971], the results sug gested that experienced clinicians had a more well-defined stereotype of boys who stutter. The most frequently reported characteristics were negative personality traits such as ner vousness.…”

Listeners’ Perceptions of Normal and Voice-Disordered Children

“…They found that cli nicians with more experience in working with stuttering boys usually listed more char acteristics than those with less experience. Since the frequency of reported characteris tics is related to the strength of a perceived stereotype [Woods and Williams, 1971], the results suggested that experienced clinicians had a more well-defined stereotype of boys who stutter. The most frequent characteris tics listed by the speech/language patholo gists were negative personality traits such as nervousness, shyness and withdrawal.…”

“…The most frequent characteris tics listed by the speech/language patholo gists were negative personality traits such as nervousness, shyness and withdrawal. Woods and Williams [1971] obtained speech/language pathologists' perceptions of the nonspeech characteristics of stuttering men and compared responses to those ob tained by Yairi and Williams [ 1970] for stut tering boys. It was found that many of the same negative characteristics were listed for men as well as boys who stutter.…”