Teachers’ perspectives on the difficulties they experience with students who stutter, and educational regulations

Abstract

Stuttering, the repetition of voice, syllable or sentence, is a speech and social communication disorder that negatively affects the fluency of speech. Students who stutter are often socially isolated in school, and also experience high anxiety and communication difficulty at different levels. With the study reported on here we investigated teachers’ opinions about the difficulties they experience when supporting students who stutter, and how educational regulations are implemented. In this descriptive study the qualitative research method was employed. This method enables an in-depth investigation of participants’ opinions and thoughts. Interview notes and observation data were analysed using descriptive and document analysis. Teachers’ opinions are described along 4 main themes, namely recognition and intervention, providing cooperation, in-class communication environment, and academic support. The findings in the study show that teachers and peers have a great influence on stuttering children’s access to quality education and their social acceptance.