Assessing The Reactions And Attitudes Of Parents Toward Their Preschool Children WHO Stutter

In this study, it is aimed to reveal the reactions and attitudes of parents toward their preschool children who stutter. Mothers (n=28) and fathers (n=35) who have stuttering children of 3-6 ages participated in the study. As data collection instruments, "Participant Information Form", "Fluent Speech Disorder Child Evaluation Form" and a Turkish adapted "RSDS" were used in the study. For ease of use, the forms were converted into online formats. The collected data were analyzed with the t-test, the one-way analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis of SPSS statistics package v26. RSDS points were evaluated considering the scale total points and the average points of the scale's 3 subdomains, being cognitive, behavioral and emotional. As a result of the analyses, it was found that the parents revealed the strongest reactions and attitudes in cognitive subdomain and the weakest reactions and attitudes in the emotional subdomain. When comparing the points of the mothers and fathers, it was found that the fathers got the highest points in all the subdomains except for the emotional subdomain; however there is no significant difference between the mothers and the fathers in any of the domains. Comparison of the mothers and the fathers in terms of the children's gender showed that male children's mothers got significantly higher points than their fathers in the emotional subdomain. There is no significant difference between parents' education levels, parents' ages, stuttering children's ages and their scale points. On the other hand, average points in the total and behavioral subdomain of the parents of children getting therapy were found to be significantly lower than those of the parents of children getting no therapy. It was also found that the average points in the scale's behavioral subdomain increase significantly as the starting age of stuttering goes higher.