Attitudes in Stuttering

Stuttering is a type of fluency disorder that has its onset roughly between the ages of 2 and 6 years and is characterized by a disruption in the forward flow of speech. Stuttering behaviors are generally seen as within-word interruptions, such as sound and syllable repetitions, sound prolongations (silent and oral), broken words, and monosyllabic word repetitions. In addition, many researchers and clinicians agree that there is more to what constitutes the child or the adult who stutters than only fluency failures. This entry discusses how stuttering affects quality of life for children and adults who stutter and the attitudes they have toward their speech.

To define a person who stutters (PWS) uniquely in terms of speech disruptions is insufficient because it does not fully capture ...