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Past research with the Communication Attitude Test (CAT) has shown it to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing speech-associated attitude of children who stutter (CWS). However, in Japan, the CAT has not been used extensively to examine the communication attitude of CWS. The purpose of this study was to determine if a Japanese version of the CAT could differentiate between the communication attitude of Japanese elementary school CWS and children who do not stutter (CWNS). A Japanese translation of the 1991 version of the Communication Attitude Test-Revised (CAT-R) was used in this study. Eighty Japanese CWS and 80 gender- and grade level-matched CWNS participated in the study. The results showed that CWS had a significantly more negative communication attitude than CWNS. Both CWS and CWNS in 1st grade showed significantly more positive communication attitudes than children in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Furthermore, a link between stuttering severity and CWS' communication attitude was found. Additional research is needed to confirm the results of the current study, which indicate that the communication attitude of Japanese CWS becomes more negative as they get older. Learning outcomes: The reader will be able to: (1) Describe the process that was used to develop a Japanese version of the Communication Attitude Test (CAT-J). (2) Discuss attitude differences between Japanese children who stutter and those who do not and how grade level impacts a negative attitude toward communication. (3) Explain the link between stuttering severity and attitudes of Japanese children who stutter. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

The present study examined listeners' identification and rating of words in passages as stuttered when the duration and frequency of occurrence of sound prolongations were manipulated. Thirty-six participants listened to a 219-word passage containing voiceless fricatives digitally increased from their normal durations to 200, 300, and 420 ms. Listeners heard one of three passages that contained 5%, 10% or 15% altered stimuli within the passage. In Condition 1, listeners identified words considered stuttered. In Condition 2, listeners rated specifically selected words in the passage relative to the extent they considered the words stuttered. The results showed that (1) both the duration and the frequency of occurrence of the altered phonemes within the paragraph length material had an impact on listeners' perception of words identified as a sound prolongation; (2) listeners gave significantly higher ratings in Condition 2 than Condition 1 when determining if a word was stuttered or produced fluently. The implications of these results are discussed. Learning outcomes: After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (1) Describe the past literature on listener perceptions of stuttering. (2) Differentiate between listener's perceptions of sound prolongations that are altered in duration and frequency of occurrence. (3) Describe how paragraph-length speech material compares to past research that has used isolated utterances. (Contains 5 tables and 3 figures.)

Purpose: To determine how text type, topic familiarity, and stuttering frequency influence listener recall, comprehension, and perceived mental effort. Method: Sixty adults listened to familiar and unfamiliar narrative and expository texts produced with 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% stuttering. Participants listened to 4 experimental text samples at only 1 stuttering frequency. After hearing the text samples, each listener performed a free recall task, answered cued recall questions, answered story comprehension questions, and rated their perceived mental effort. Results: Free and cued recall as well as story comprehension scores were higher for narrative than for expository texts. Free and cued recall scores were better for familiar than for unfamiliar stories, although topic familiarity did not affect story comprehension scores. Samples with all levels of stuttering resulted in higher mental effort ratings for both text types and topic familiarities. Conclusions: Stuttering has a greater influence on listener recall and comprehension for narrative than for expository texts. Topic familiarity affects free and cued recall but has no influence on story comprehension. Regardless of the amount of stuttering, mental effort was high for both text types and levels of familiarity.

Little is known about how middle school students perceive a similar-aged peer who stutters. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of stuttering frequency, Likert statement type (affective, behavioral, cognitive), and the gender of the listener on middle school students' perceptions of a peer who stutters. Sixty-four middle school students (10-14 years) individually viewed a video sample of a teen telling a joke at one of four stuttering frequencies (less than 1%, 5%, 10%, 14%). After the students viewed one of the video samples, they were asked to rate 11 Likert statements that reflected their affective, behavioral, and cognitive perceptions of a peer who stuttered. The results revealed an interaction between stuttering frequency and Likert statement type. Ratings of behavioral statements (speech production characteristics) were significantly more positive for the sample containing less than 1% stuttering than 10% and 14% stuttering. Ratings for cognitive statements (thought and beliefs) were significantly more positive for the sample containing less than 1% stuttering than 10% and 14% stuttering. The stuttering frequency of the peer did not significantly influence how students rated affective statements (feelings and emotions). It was also found that male and female middle school students did not significantly differ in their perceptions of a male peer who stutters. Clinical implications are discussed relative to peer teasing, friendship, listener comfort, and social acceptance within a middle school setting for a student who stutters. Future research directions are also discussed. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) summarize how middle school students perceive stuttering; (2) explain how the frequency of stuttering influences middle school students' perceptions of a peer who stutters; and (3) provide clinical implications of the data from this study. (Contains 4 tables.)

The aim of this study was to examine listener perceptions of an adult male person who stutters (PWS) who did or did not disclose his stuttering. Ninety adults who do not stutter individually viewed one of three videotaped monologues produced by a male speaker with severe stuttering. In one monologue, 30 listeners heard the speaker disclose stuttering at the beginning and in another monologue, 30 listeners heard the speaker disclose stuttering at the end. A third group of 30 listeners viewed a monologue where no disclosure of stuttering occurred. After listeners viewed a monologue, they were asked to rate a set of six Likert scale statements and answer three open-ended questions. The results showed that only one of six Likert statements was significantly different across the three conditions. The only statement that was different was that the speaker was perceived to be significantly more friendly when disclosing stuttering at the end of the monologue than when not disclosing stuttering. There were no significant differences between the percentage of positive and negative comments made by listeners across the three conditions. Listeners' comments to each open-ended question showed they were comfortable listening to stuttering with or without disclosure and slightly more than half of the listeners believed their perceptions of the speaker did not change when he disclosed stuttering. The results also showed that the speaker who disclosed stuttering at the beginning of the monologue received significantly more positive listener comments than when he disclosed stuttering at the end of the monologue. Results are discussed relative to comparisons with the Collins and Blood (1990) study, the clinical relevance of acknowledging stuttering as a component of treatment, and future research on the self-disclosure of stuttering. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe how different groups of listeners perceive and respond to two conditions of self-disclosure of stuttering and one condition involving non self-disclosure of stuttering; (2) summarize the range of listener responses to and benefits of self-disclosure of stuttering; and (3) describe the value of self-disclosure of stuttering for the listener and the speaker. (Contains 4 tables.)

The purpose of this study was to compare participants' quantitative and qualitative judgments of various forms and frequencies of stuttering, during either audiovisual or audio-only presentation modes. A total of 64 participants voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. Each participant was randomly assigned and exposed to only one of the four conditions of varying stuttering severity levels. The assigned speech sample was presented to the participant in either the audiovisual or audio-only mode. After watching or listening to the sample, participants completed a six-item Likert scale and were asked four open-ended questions. Comments made by listeners were developed into positive and negative comments as well as sorted into five theme clusters. The data analyses revealed a number of non-significant differences across mean Likert scale ratings for the six statements and for the number of positive and negative comments between the two presentation modes. However, the results provided partial support for the notion that as the frequency of stuttering increases, listeners tend to make increasingly more negative comments about the speaker. Additionally, there were no clear differences in comments across the five theme clusters between the two presentation modes. The findings suggest that the type of presentation mode does not appear to affect listeners' perceptions of stuttering to the same extent that stuttering severity does. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe how listeners perceive and react to various frequencies of stuttering; (2) explain how audiovisual versus audio-only samples impact listener perceptions of stuttering and (3) provide examples of the ways in which qualitative data can enhance the understanding of how listeners react to various levels of stuttering. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

We show that braided Cherednik algebras introduced by Bazlov and Berenstein are cocycle twists of rational Cherednik algebras of the imprimitive complex reflection groups |$G(m,p,n)$|⁠ , when m is even. This gives a new construction of mystic reflection groups which have Artin–Schelter regular rings of quantum polynomial invariants. As an application of this result, we show that a braided Cherednik algebra has a finite-dimensional representation if and only if its rational counterpart has one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey of 241 school-based speech-language pathologists examined numbers of confirmed and suspected concomitant speech/language disorders in children who stutter and the preferred intervention approaches. Of 467 children, 44 percent had a verified concomitant phonological and/or language disorder with additional children suspected of having such a concomitant disorder. Most clinicians preferred a blended intervention approach. (Contains references.) (DB)

This study investigated the effects of contextualization on fluency in 35 school-age children with either stuttering, language impairment, or normal fluency. Analysis of the children's discourse samples, half of which were produced with contextual cues, found stutterers demonstrated a significant reduction in frequency of stuttering in the contextualized setting. All children produced more disfluencies in the decontextualized setting. (Contains references.) (DB)

A study tested the differences between eight children (ages 6 through 11) who stutter and typical children on measures of narrative complexity and cohesion use in two narrative tasks and in stuttering frequency produced across tasks. No significant differences were found on measures of narrative complexity or cohesion use. (Author/CR)

Ten factors that school clinicians should consider in determining treatment of children who stutter include, among others, increasing clinicians' confidence in treating stuttering, setting long-term and short-term goals, involving parents and teachers in treatment, and determining when the child is ready to be dismissed from treatment. (SW)

A model of service delivery for elementary students who stutter is described, emphasizing the integration of fluency-shaping and stuttering modification techniques. The treatment program includes procedures for helping children to understand and identify fluency problems, techniques for teaching and integrating fluency-shaping and stuttering modification techniques, and procedures for transfer and maintenance of speech improvement. (Author/PB)

The study compared five adult stutterers' and five adult nonstutterers' fluent speech patterns produced during one nonshadowed reading and two speech-shadowing conditions (immediate repetition of a heard message). Among results were that stutterers produced fewer speech production errors than nonstutterers during shadowing conditions. (Author/DB)

This study explored multiple effects of listener perceptions of different levels of simulated stuttering and fluency. A single stuttered speech sample was modified to create four additional samples of stuttering and fluency. A sixth sample of a nonstuttered signal served as a comparative baseline. Each of 60 independent listeners made quantitative and qualitative perceptual judgments upon hearing only one of the six randomly assigned samples. Results showed a broad spectrum of qualitative and quantitative listener perceptions of the various levels of stuttering and fluency studied. Likert scale data revealed that listeners gave lower ratings to samples with increased levels of stuttering. Listener commentaries revealed fewer positive comments with increased levels of stuttering and distinctive preferences between two 0% samples of stuttering where only prosodic features were modified Additionally, specific perceptions of speaker competency, perceived ease in reading a passage, general comfort listening, and perceived effort in understanding the story appear to affect the global perceptions of a speaker's communication. Implications of these findings are discussed. KEY WORDS: perceptions, simulation, stuttering, fluency, Listeners' perceptions of how a speaker communicates are influenced by a wide range of social, cultural, and experiential events (Wood, 1997). These events affect subjective judgments regarding the communicative intent, [...]

Abstract: Introduction: This pilot trial will inform the design and methods of a future full‐scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) and examine the feasibility, acceptability and fidelity of the Increasing Physical activity in Older People with chronic Pain (iPOPP) intervention, a healthcare assistant (HCA)‐supported intervention to promote walking in older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain in a primary care setting. Methods and analysis: The iPOPP study is an individually randomized, multicentre, three‐parallel‐arm pilot RCT. A total of 150 participants aged ≥65 years with chronic pain in one or more index sites will be recruited and randomized using random permuted blocks, stratified by general practice, to: (i) usual care plus written information; (ii) pedometer plus usual care and written information; or (iii) the iPOPP intervention. A theoretically informed mixed‐methods approach will be employed using semi‐structured interviews, audio recordings of the HCA consultations, self‐reported questionnaires, case report forms and objective physical activity data collection (accelerometry). Follow‐up will be conducted 12 weeks post‐randomization. Collection of the quantitative data and statistical analysis will be performed blinded to treatment allocation, and analysis will be exploratory to inform the design and methods of a future RCT. Analysis of the HCA consultation recordings will focus on the use of a checklist to determine the fidelity of the iPOPP intervention delivery, and the interview data will be analysed using a constant comparison approach in order to generate conceptual themes focused around the acceptability and feasibility of the trial, and then mapped to the Theoretical Domains Framework to understand barriers and facilitators to behaviour change. A triangulation protocol will be used to integrate quantitative and qualitative data and findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]