The Effects of Different Sources of Stuttering Disclosure on the Perceptions of a Child Who Stutters

Abstract

Purpose This study measured between-group differences in perceived speech skills and personality characteristics of a 12-year-old boy who stutters as a function of a factual stuttering disclosure statement, delivered by the boy who stutters, his “mother,” or his “teacher.” Method Two hundred seventeen college-aged adults were randomly assigned to one of four groups, including a control group (no stuttering disclosure) and three experimental groups (child disclosure, mother disclosure, and teacher disclosure). Participants in the control condition viewed a brief video of a 12-year-old boy who stutters. For the experimental conditions, participants viewed a brief factual stuttering disclosure video (delivered by the child, mother, or teacher), followed by the same minute-long video of a boy who stutters used in the control condition. Following the videos, participants completed surveys relative to their perception of the boy's speech skills and personality characteristics. Results Results support previous research citing benefits of stuttering disclosure. Significant between-group differences in both perceived speech skills and personality characteristics were observed when stuttering was disclosed by not only the child who stutters but also his teacher. When stuttering was disclosed by the mother, limited positive attitudinal differences were observed in speech skills; as a matter of fact, a number of personality characteristics were perceived more negatively as a function of stuttering disclosure by the mother. Conclusions While results were generally most positive when the boy disclosed his own stuttering, data from this study support the efficacy of verbal stuttering disclosure provided by a teacher as a means of improving perceptions associated with stuttering. Accordingly, data support the notion that children who stutter will experience an improved quality of life when taught effective self-disclosure strategies by both parents and professionals, and that professionals (but not necessarily parents) can effectively disclose their clients' stuttering during this mentorship and self-advocacy process.

The Effects of Different Sources and Modalities of Stuttering Disclosure on Listeners’ Perceptions of a Child Who Stutters

“…Interestingly, mother disclosure eliciting no beneficial shifts in listener perceptions when compared to the control group but rather trended toward a more negative perception of the CWS. Specifically, for select personality characteristic continuum pairs (relaxed/tense, secure/insecure, outgoing/shy), mother disclosure resulted in more negative perceptions of the CWS [18].…”

“…In addition, when PWS achieved a desired level of fluency, listeners typically reported that the speech sounded significantly more unnatural as a result of the therapy [17]. As a result, although traditional therapy might lessen overt stuttering frequency or severity, traditional therapy also appears to be inadequate at eradicating the observative manifestations of the disorder, including the negative consequences of stuttering on the quality of life for those who stutter [1,18,19].…”

“…Although recent studies confirm the positive effects of factual stuttering self-disclosure relative to the pediatric population [18,25], a fundamental challenge within pediatric self-disclosure is data indicating that children are less equipped to advocate for themselves [26,27]. In lieu of this reality, researchers have investigated the efficacy of common or accessible advocates (e.g., mother, teacher, etc.)…”

“…In lieu of this reality, researchers have investigated the efficacy of common or accessible advocates (e.g., mother, teacher, etc.) factually disclosing stuttering on a child's behalf [18]. In this study, participants viewed one of four potential factual stuttering disclosure conditions (control/no disclosure, CWS self-disclosure, the biological mother disclosing stuttering on the CWS behalf, and the biological mother identifying as a "teacher" who disclosed the CWS stuttering).…”

“…The stuttering disclosure research paradigm typically employs verbal (i.e., spoken) disclosure methods [12,20,23,28]. However, considering that children might not be able to effectively verbally advocate for themselves [26,27], and stuttering disclosure via child advocates yield differential results in regard to its efficacy [18], researchers continue to study novel or alternate stuttering disclosure strategies. Given that children might be able to leverage the written word as a means to self-advocate, coupled with a reduction of face-to-face interactions associated with a global pandemic, written stuttering disclosure statements, provided by a CWS and his advocates, were also investigated as a potential alternative to verbal disclosure of stuttering [19].…”