Speech Clinicians' Conceptions of Boys and Men Who Stutter

Speech clinicians were asked to write adjectives they felt best described the adult male stutterer. Their responses were compared with the same information obtained about elementary school-aged boys who stutter. Many of the same adjectives were listed for both boys and men, indicating a fairly well established stereotype of a “stutterer,” regardless of age. Furthermore, most of these adjectives were judged to be undesirable personality characteristics for males. When the adjectives were grouped together into broad behavior categories, approximately 75% of the clinicians listed adjectives that grouped within the category of “nervous or fearful,” and 64% listed those that were included in the category of “shy and insecure.” Interestingly, only 31% of the clinicians listed adjectives that reflected “abnormalities in speech.” These data have importance for the clinician who sits for the first time across the clinical desk and begins to work with a stutterer.