Abstract
Purpose: This project sought to develop consensus guidelines for clinically meaningful, comprehensive assessment procedures for people who stutter across the lifespan. Method: Twelve expert clinicians and researchers who have written extensively about stuttering provided detailed descriptions of the type of data that they routinely collect during diagnostic evaluations of preschool children, school-age children, adolescents, and adults who stutter. Iterative content analysis, with repeated input from the respondents, was used to identify core areas that reflect common domains that these experts judge to be important for evaluating stuttering for varying age groups. Results: Six core areas were identified as common components of a comprehensive evaluation of stuttering and people who stutter. These areas should be included to varying degrees depending upon the age and needs of the client or family. The core areas include the following: (a) stuttering-related background information; (b) speech, language, and temperament development (especially for younger clients); (c) speech fluency and stuttering behaviors; (d) reactions to stuttering by the speaker; (e) reactions to stuttering by people in the speaker’s environment; and (f) adverse impact caused by stuttering. Discussion: These consensus recommendations can help speech-language pathologists who are uncertain about appropriate stuttering assessment procedures to design and conduct more thorough evaluations, so that they will be better prepared to provide individualized and comprehensive treatment for people who stutter across the lifespan.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2379-2393 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Nov 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Preparation of this article was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: (Grant R01 DC018795), awarded to J. Scott Yaruss, Communicative Sciences and Disorders, Michigan State University, and (Grant R01DC015494) awarded to Brian MacWhinney, Carnegie Mellon University, and Nan Bernstein Ratner, University of Maryland-College Park. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors would like to thank Caryn Herring, Robyn Lachow, and Seth Tichenor for their assistance with data organization.
Funding Information:
Preparation of this article was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: (Grant R01 DC018795), awarded to J. Scott Yaruss, Communicative Sciences and Disorders, Michigan State University, and (Grant R01DC015494) awarded to Brian MacWhinney, Carnegie Mellon University, and Nan Bernstein Ratner, University of Maryland-College Park. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors would like to thank Caryn Herring, Robyn Lachow, and Seth Tichenor for their assis-tance with data organization.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. All rights reserved.