The impact of stuttering on quality of life of children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND Understanding the experience of people who stutter, both in and out treatment, will lead to improved outcomes. AIM To investigate how stuttering affects the quality of life of children and adolescents who stutter. METHOD The Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering--School-Age (OASES-S) was used to assess the impact of stuttering and the Fluency Profile Protocol was used to stuttering severity. RESULTS These age groups do experience moderate negative impact as measured by the OASES-S. The results showed a tendency toward a positive correlation between severity and the impact of stuttering on quality of life. CONCLUSION A better understanding of the impact of stuttering in these age groups provides a needed guide for the development of stuttering treatments and treatment outcomes research.