Linguistic proficiency, communicative attitude, and severity in a sample of children who stutter aged 4-6 years

Abstract

Children who stutter develop self-awareness of their speech from an early age, resulting in a more negative communication attitude (CA) compared to their fluent peers. Other speech disorders can also affect CA. The relationship between low scores in linguistic proficiency and negative CA among children who stutter without other comorbidities is still unclear. Eighteen children (aged 4;0-6;11) diagnosed with stuttering, but not yet treated, Italian speakers from Veneto, with no other concurrent disorders were assessed using KiddyCAT for CA and BVL_4-12 for linguistic proficiency. Their linguistic abilities were comparable to those of fluent peers, except for their poor performance on articulation and repetition tests. Although most children stutter moderately or severely, their CA was comparable to that of their normal, fluent peers. No significant correlations emerged between CA, language ability, and stuttering severity.