Comprehensive Diagnosis of Polish School-Age Children Who Stutter: Normative and Psychometric Iinvestigation of the Behavior Assessment Battery

Abstract

The Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB) for Children Who Stutter is a self-report test investigating the affective, behavioral and cognitive correlates of stuttering. Its sub-tests gauge a school-age child who stutters’ (CWS) level of anxiety and speech disruption in particular speech situations (SSC-ER: Speech Situation Checklist – Emotional Reaction and SSC-SD: Speech Situation Checklist – Speech Disruption), the use of coping behaviors (BCL: Behavior Checklist) and how a child thinks about his/her speech (CAT: Communication Attitude Test). Cross-cultural research with the BAB has pointed to its usefulness as a differential diagnostic tool and that the tests’ items lead to treatment targets. This type of multidimensional assessment instrument for children who stutter was previously unavailable in Poland, but its publication is now underway. This article presents the results of normative and psychometric testing related to the adaptation of the Polish version of the BAB.

Keywords

• stuttering/stammering
• diagnosis
• children
• Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB)