Development Standards: Stuttering and Social Acceptance

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Stuttering and Social Acceptance
A study done in England had four hundred and three children from 16 different classes in 16 different schools participating in a research study to determine how children who stutter are socially accepted. The age ranged from 8 to 14 years old with the mean being 11 years of age. In each of the 16 classes, only one child stuttered with the rest of the children being non-stutterers. Every student was then interviewed individually and asked to pick 3 children out of the class that were liked most and 3 that were liked least, and then asked to pick 3 students who fit a certain category best. The categories were shy, assertive, co-operative, disruptive, leader, uncertain, bully, and bully victim (Davis, Howell, & Cooke, 2002). The results concluded that children who stutter have a much lower acceptance and popularity rate than children who do not. It was found that 43.75% of children who stutter were rejected compared to 18.86% of children rejected who do not stutter. Only 6.25% of stutterers were found to be popular compared to 25.84% of non-stutterer popularity. Children who do not stutter were twice as likely to be viewed as leaders. Another significant disparity is that stuttering children were more likely to be categorized as a bully victim (37.5%) and to be viewed as seeking help (25%) compared to peer counterparts (10.6% and 13.18%) (Davis, et al., 2002). These characteristics would place the majority of stuttering children in the rejected-withdrawn peer acceptance category. This category of individuals is passive, socially awkward, excluded by peers, and are likely to be victims of bullying (Berk, 2012).
Instructional Decision
One of the most important things for me to teach my clients is that...

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