Revista de patología y terapia del habla

Abstracto

Communication Attitude of Slovenian Preschool Children who do and do not Stutter

Jerneja Novšak Brce and Martine Vanryckeghem

Objective: The aim of this paper was to investigate the communication attitude of Slovenian preschool children who stutter by means of the Communication Attitude Test for Preschool and Kindergarten Children who Stutter (KiddyCAT), and to determine whether differences in communication attitude existed among preschool children who stutter, and their peers who are fluent speakers. In addition, the test’s discriminant value, its internal reliability and the factors underpinning the Slovenian version of the KiddyCAT were explored.

Methods and Procedure: Data were gathered on a normative sample of 49 preschool children who stutter and 74 who do not stutter. The children were divided into two subgroups according to age: a ‘’younger’’ (3 to 4,4 years old) and ‘’older’’ (4,5 to 6 years old) group.

Outcomes and Results: Results showed that preschool children who stutter scored statistically significantly higher on the KiddyCAT than preschool children who do not stutter. The effect size was large. A mean increase in scores among the preschool children who stutter was observed, but was not statistically significant. An opposite observation, again not significant, was made for preschool children who do not stutter. Also gender did not affect the test results. The test is internally reliable and has construct validity.

Conclusion and Implications: The KiddyCAT is a useful tool for early detection of negative communication attitude of preschool children who stutter and helps in targeting cognitive-related stuttering intervention goals.