Purpose: The study identifies teachers' beliefs about and attitudes toward stuttering and explores to what extent these beliefs and attitudes prompt specific teachers' reactions to the stuttering of a student. Method: Participants were teachers in secondary education in Flanders (Belgium), currently teaching an adolescent who stutters. They were…

Young children develop the skills necessary for communication in infancy. Interactions with family members and other caregivers nurture and support those skills. Spoken (expressive) language progresses rapidly after a child's first word. A typical 2-year-old has an expressive vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words. Around this time, as they…

Offers a brief overview of children's speech development, discussing positive attitudes toward stuttering and outlining strategies for appropriate interventions by teachers and other adults. A checklist of factors to consider in making a referral for stuttering is provided. (KS)

Information about children who stutter is provided, including the characteristics of stutterers and techniques that preschool and elementary teachers can use in the classroom to help these students. Suggestions focus on ways to provide a good speech model, improve the child's self-esteem, and create a good speech environment. (DB)

Recent investigations in the field of speech pathology are focusing increasingly on possible relationships among the pathological natures of those speech disorders having an emotional base (e.g., stuttering, stagefright, reticence). The psychological and sociological context of reticence--the avoidance of social and verbal interaction--should be…