Assignment 3: What Are Children's Reactions To Stuttering?

In conversation it can be difficult to be the listener with a speaker who is a stutterer. The listener may feel extra pressure or confusion as to how he or she should respond or act in a moment where the speaker has become dysfluent. The stutterer can recognize this level of discomfort and begins to for negative emotions about his or her self. Healey (2010) believes the following emotions may manifest, “From the perspective of individuals who stutter, it is not uncommon to hear them report they are fearful of a listener’s negative reactions, being made fun of, looking foolish, or appearing unintelligent (p. 227). It is important for people who stutter (PWS) to recognize that not every listener or audience will formulate negative opinions.

More recent research has since contradicted this. Panico and Healey (2009) found that listeners comprehended and recalled messages with the presence of a mild stutter, and break down occurred with a more severe stutterer.
Question 3: What are children’s reactions to stuttering? Research in general confirms that children as young as three years of age portrayed negative responses to PWS. Children were also judged to react negatively to their peers who stuttered as well. These findings are very similar and display the same pattern as adults reacting to their stuttering peers.
Question 4: How do listeners react to strategies plus use in stuttering therapy programs? As clinicians we are taught to provide our patients with different compensatory strategies to aid in improving their deficits. Previous studies have found that listeners felt more negatively toward a dysfluent speaker who utilized pull-outs and cancellations. Listeners felt more positive about a speaker who addressed his or her deficits and spoke