Stuttering-Like Behaviors in ASL
Cripps et al.
Finally, all survey studies conducted to date that assessed ‘signed stuttering’ did not
consider or describe the respondents’ own signing skills. That is, the description of previous
respondents is only noted “to know” ASL or Flemish Sign Language. Therefore, future studies
should more thoroughly describe respondents’ signed language proficiency. In summary and given
the above, the purpose of the current investigation was to further study ‘signed stuttering’ and aims
to move beyond the exploratory stage of inquiry by studying a larger number of participants who
will respond to a survey which includes a longer, more exhaustive series of questions.
Method
Participants
Participants were identified from an internet search of deaf-related associations (e.g., state-
wide deaf associations and national deaf association such as National Association of the Deaf),
institutions (e.g., state-wide schools for the deaf and universities with deaf/signed language-related
programs), and organizations (e.g., professionally related organizations or agencies serving the
deaf). A total of 422 individuals received the survey with a cover letter via email and 152
completed the survey (36% which is considered as highly successful rate for online respondents
according to SurveyMonkey website - https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/ sample-size/).
Participants were required to be above the age of eighteen, have knowledge of ASL, and have
communicated with ASL users. All of the participants were notified that the university’s
Institutional Review Board had approved this study.
Survey Design and Its Validity
A 19-item survey was developed and pilot-tested with 10 students and faculty from a
speech and language pathology department at a mid-Atlantic university to assess overall validity
and to ensure that the survey is operational. The final survey was created after receiving the
feedback from the pilot-testing participants. The final version was divided into two parts: 1)
demographic information along with ASL knowledge and experience; and 2) questions regarding
stuttering-like behaviors (see appendix for the survey questions).
In the first part of the survey, participants were asked about their ASL proficiency level
(self-evaluation), years of ASL use, and their interactions with individuals who exhibited
stuttering-like behaviors in the signed language modality. The respondents who reported that they
have encountered deaf individuals who exhibit stuttering-like behaviors continued to the second
part of the survey. Participants then responded to the second set of questions about deaf individuals
who exhibit signed stuttering-like behaviors based on the information from the Whitebread list.
The respondents were also asked about the secondary behaviors that are frequently
exhibited with stuttering-like behaviors (such as grimacing and frustration) and whether the
perceived stuttering-like behaviors exhibited by the ASL users were exacerbated by certain types
of discourse situations (e.g. taking to a small group of people, public presentations, etc.).
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