Department of Communication Disorders, Marshall University, Huntington, WV.
West Virginia University, Morgantown.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2018 Nov 21;27(4):1445-1457. doi: 10.1044/2018_AJSLP-18-0019.
Negative or uninformed stuttering attitudes proliferate among the general public, and bourgeoning research has shown that such attitudes might emerge as early as the preschool years. Much remains unknown about young children's stuttering attitudes, and conclusive recommendations to improve attitudes toward stuttering have yet to be advanced. This study sought to determine the effect of a new educational program on improving stuttering attitudes among preschool children using objective measures.
Thirty-seven preschool children learned about stuttering and sensitive peer interactions by participating in the newly developed Attitude Change and Tolerance program. The program teaches children about human differences with an emphasis on stuttering and how to interact with people who stutter. Children's stuttering attitudes were measured using the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering/Child (Weidner & St. Louis, 2014) before and after the program.
Pre-post comparisons showed statistically significant improvements in children's overall stuttering attitudes. In particular, children demonstrated gains relative to their perceptions of and reactions toward people who stutter.
This study provides empirical evidence that young children's stuttering attitudes can be improved using the Attitude Change and Tolerance program. In addition, it supports previous research that negative stuttering attitudes emerge as early as preschool.
公众中普遍存在消极或不了解的口吃态度，新兴研究表明，这种态度早在学龄前就可能出现。关于幼儿口吃态度的了解还很有限，尚未提出改善对口吃态度的明确建议。本研究旨在使用客观测量方法确定新的教育计划对改善学龄前儿童口吃态度的效果。
37 名学龄前儿童通过参与新开发的态度改变和宽容计划，了解口吃和敏感的同伴互动。该计划通过强调口吃和与口吃者互动的方式，教导儿童有关人类差异的知识。在计划前后，使用《口吃/儿童的人类属性公众意见调查》（Weidner 和 St. Louis，2014 年）测量儿童的口吃态度。
前后比较显示，儿童的整体口吃态度有统计学意义上的显著改善。特别是，儿童对口吃者的看法和反应方面取得了进步。
本研究提供了实证证据，表明使用态度改变和宽容计划可以改善幼儿的口吃态度。此外，它支持了先前的研究，即消极的口吃态度早在学龄前就已经出现。
