Purpose: Although teachers have more information about stuttering than the general population, they lack information that their attitudes, thoughts and behaviors towards stuttering can affect the motivation, participation and willingness of the student who stutters. This research examines the attitudes and thoughts developed by classroom teachers towards stuttering and the individual who stutters. In the study, it was also investigated whether the factors of gender, professional experience, education related to speech disorder and teaching the students with stuttering made a change in these attitudes and thoughts. Method: The research was designed in accordance with the descriptive research model and 283 classroom teachers were included in the study. Personal Information Form, Human Traits Public Opinion Questionnaire– Stuttering (POSHA-S) (St. Louis, 2011) and Teacher Attitudes towards Stuttering Students (Erdem, 2013) were administered to classroom teachers. Results: The study revealed that 77.5% of the classroom teachers believe that the cause of stuttering is an event that the person fears. 71.9% of the classroom teachers had access to information about stuttering during the school period. 97.9% of classroom teachers think that individuals who stutter need help from a speech and language therapist. 45.7% of the classroom teachers stated that they would say slow down or relax while talking to the person who stutters. 65.8% of classroom teachers think that individuals who stutter are shy. Compared to male classroom teachers (41.2%-57.7%), female classroom teachers (60.3%-70.1%) agree more with the view that individuals who stutter are nervous or easily excited, and shy. 21.9% of classroom teachers stated that students who stutter will learn to read and write later than their peers; 20.7% of them support the view that their reading comprehension skills are lower, and 44.0% of them support the view that teachers should realize that students who stutter are different from other students. Conclusion: Based on the results of the research, it was observed that the classroom teachers were not aware of the current approaches related to stuttering that point out that they may experience deficiencies in knowledge about stuttering, exhibit behaviors that interfere with speech, describe the personal characteristics of a stutterer with negative adjectives, be undecided about the academic success of stuttering students, have difficulty in establishing the balance between a stuttering student and a fluent speaking student in the classroom.
Keywords
teacher, stuttering, attitude, POSHA-S
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