Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (Sep 2018)
A Study to Assess Awareness and Attitudes of Teachers towards Primary School Children with Stuttering in Dakshina Kannada District, India
Abstract
Introduction: Stuttering, a fluency disorder causes a negative impact on an individual’s educational, occupational, and social experiences. Based on the review of the previous literatures it was found that the school population exhibited 5% lifetime incidence and 1% stuttering prevalence. Aim: To assess the awareness and attitude of teachers towards primary school children with stuttering. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in primary schools in Dakshina Kannada, Mangalore, Karnataka, India, using Convenient sampling. A total of 70 teachers who are currently teaching primary school children were selected. A questionnaire was developed which had three sections. For the purpose of validation, the developed questionnaire was given to seven experienced speech language pathologists. Later, these speech language pathologists were asked to rate the relevance of each section and questions on a 5-point rating scale. Based on the average ratings, content validity index was calculated. Later each of the participants was given a copy of the questionnaire and was asked to rate it based on the response format provided. On the basis of obtained scores, internal consistency and test-retest reliability was estimated by using the statistical test Cronbach’s alpha and analysis was conducted by using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Questions regarding the teachers’ awareness towards stuttering received an average score of 63.16%. For teachers’ attitude, a score of 55.7% and a score of 48.5% for the teacher’s perception regarding the students’ interaction with the children who stutter were obtained. Conclusion: The present study indicates that teachers are aware about the development of speech and language patterns, the common errors that can occur during the developmental period which in turn helps them to differentiate stuttering from normal non-fluency. Therefore, understanding teacher’s attitudes resolve them in mounting special consideration and making appropriate referral for intervention of the children.
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