ERIC Number: EJ741230
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Jan
Pages: 12
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-1461
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Why We Should Consider Pragmatics when Planning Treatment for Children Who Stutter
Weiss, Amy L.
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v35 n1 p34-45 Jan 2004
Pragmatics, the use of language in context, has been investigated only recently in the language used by children who stutter (CWS). Historically, researchers compared the length and complexity of the syntactic constructions produced by these children with those of children who do not stutter (CWNS) and generally found the CWS to be relatively deficient. More recently, some investigators have begun to address how the language and fluency of CWS are influenced in different communicative settings. This article describes several findings concerning the pragmatic competencies of CWS set against the traditional framework of pragmatic language development. Most studies have shown no significant differences between the CWS and CWNS groups, although some aspects of pragmatic language use have yielded an exacerbation of stuttering for CWS. These findings have suggested specific ways of incorporating a pragmatic focus in the treatment programming for CWS where the degree of difficulty of language use is increased gradually.
Descriptors: Pragmatics, Language Usage, Stuttering, Language Fluency, Linguistic Competence, Language Acquisition, Difficulty Level, Children, Syntax, Context Effect, Language Processing, Speech Therapy
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 301-897-5700, ext. 4164; Fax: 301-897-7348.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A