Correlation between stuttering severity and pragmatic development in Egyptian children who stutter

Abstract

Background: Few studies have been carried out concerning the relation between stuttering behaviors and language pragmatics in children who stutter (CWS). The correlation between stuttering severity and pragmatic development in CWS is scarce in the literature so far. Aim: This research aimed to study the relationship between stuttering severity and pragmatic language development in the Egyptian Arabic-speaking CWS. Patients and methods: This study is an analytical cross-sectional study carried out at the Phoniatrics Clinics of El-Demerdash Hospital (Ain Shams University) and El-Zahraa Hospital (Al Azhar University). A total of 60 Egyptian CWS in the age range between 4 years 1 day and 9 years 11 months 31 days were selected conveniently based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Selected children underwent the Ain Shams assessment protocol for fluency disorders, including assessment of stuttering severity by Bloodstein (BLS) classification and the Stuttering Severity Instrument for Children and Adults – Arabic version (ASSI). The standardized Egyptian Arabic Pragmatic Language Test has been used to assess the pragmatic language development. Pearson’s correlation coefficient has been used to correlate the total pragmatic language age and degree of stuttering severity by BLS classification and the ASSI. Results: Upon application of the Egyptian Arabic Pragmatic Language Test, all the participating children had no pragmatic language delay. They had scores either at and/or above their fifth percentiles in all the test items except in the paralinguistic aspect. There was no statistically significant correlation between grades of BLS classification or ASSI and the total pragmatic language age. Conclusion: CWS had no pragmatic language delay except in the paralinguistic aspects.