Language abilities and awareness of stuttering in normally fluent children: preliminary findings

Although awareness and negative evaluation of stuttering are important information for the assessment and treatment of stuttering in children, little is known about what constitutional factors are associated with children's level of awareness and evaluation of stuttering. Among possible factors, the present study attempted to study language ability in relation to awareness of stuttering and evaluation of stuttering in typically developing young children. Participants' language ability was determined by a standardized language test and their awareness and evaluation of stuttering were determined by their expressed reactions to a video of two puppets, one speaking fluently and the other speaking nonfluently. Findings indicated positive relations between children's language ability and their awareness of stuttering and between children's language ability and their negative evaluation of stuttering. Furthermore, these relations were more observed in the 4-year-old group than other age groups. The findings may help clinicians to better understand the role children's language abilities play in the development of their awareness and negative evaluation of stuttering.