Purpose: This investigation compared voice performance of student teachers across an academic semester in order to examine the effect of increasing demands on their voice. Method: A repeated measures design was applied to the data analysis: all participants were tested three separate times throughout the semester. The equipments used for…

Many research studies have focused on perceptions of stuttering by various groups of people. However, there is limited research on the perceptions of university instructors toward stuttering and people who stutter. Therefore, this study explored the perceptions of university instructors toward stuttering and students who stutter, and their beliefs…

An open-ended, written survey was administered to 146 university students who did not stutter to obtain their impressions of the effects of stuttering on the lives of people who stutter (PWS). Participants first wrote about the general effects of stuttering and then considered how their lives would be different if they stuttered. Both types of…

To determine how early "the stuttering stereotype" is assigned, 160 university students rated a hypothetical vignette depicting either a 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-year-old with or without the statement "He stutters". A factor analysis of the semantic differential scale showed a three-factor solution comprised of 17 of the 25 bi-polar adjective pairs. The…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether a group of university students would report role entrapment of people who stutter (PWS) in the form of occupational stereotyping. The study also examined whether severity of stuttering (mild or severe) and level of therapy involvement (choosing or not choosing to attend therapy) affected the…

This paper reports the results of a pilot study that investigated the prevalence of lisping in a cohort of young adults. The motivation for the study was the observation that a substantial number of incoming students in speech language pathology at the Ghent University (Belgium), still presented with frontal lisping of the /s/, /z/ and sometimes…

Background: Negative attitudes toward stuttering and people who stutter (PWS) are found in various groups of people in many regions. However the results of previous studies examining the influence of fluency coursework and clinical certification on the attitudes of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) toward PWS are equivocal. Furthermore, there…

Background: The speech and language therapy/pathology (SLT/SLP) profession is characterized by extreme "occupational sex segregation", a term used to refer to persistently male- or female-dominated professions. Men make up only 2.5% of all SLTs in the UK, and a similar imbalance is found in other countries. Despite calls to increase diversity in…

Background: Standardized patients (SPs) are frequently included in the clinical preparation of students in the health sciences. An acknowledged benefit of using SPs is the opportunity to provide a standardized method by which students can demonstrate and develop their competency. Relatively little is known, however, about the capacity of SPs to…

Background: Entry to speech and language therapy (SLT) undergraduate pre-registration programmes in the UK is usually achieved through qualifications attained at school (e.g. A-levels). A smaller number of people who did not succeed academically at school enter through qualifications achieved post-schooling, e.g. Access to Higher Education…

Background: The importance and value of the principles of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the decision-making process is recognized by speech-language therapists (SLTs) worldwide and as a result curricula for speech-language therapy students incorporated EBP principles. However, the willingness actually to use EBP principles in their future…

Background: Worldwide speech-language therapy (SLT) students are educated in evidence-based practice (EBP). For students to use EBP in their future day-to-day clinical practice, they must value EBP as positive and must feel confident in using it. For curricula developers it is therefore important to know the impact their teaching has on these…

Background: Numerous studies show clear evidence that children display typicality effects during early word learning. However, little is known of the typicality of stimuli used by standardized language tests to assess children's language development. Aims: To examine the typicality of stimuli used by the Reynell Developmental Language Scales--III…

Background: Fluent speakers and people who stutter manifest alterations in autonomic and emotional responses as they view stuttered relative to fluent speech samples. These reactions are indicative of an aroused autonomic state and are hypothesized to be triggered by the abrupt breakdown in fluency exemplified in stuttered speech. Furthermore,…

Background: Workplace-based learning is a critical component of professional preparation in speech pathology. A validated assessment of this learning is seen to be "the gold standard", but it is difficult to develop because of design and validation issues. These issues include the role and nature of judgement in assessment, challenges in measuring…