SASLJ Vol. 2 No. 1 SASLJ Vol 2, No 1 | Page 25

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.). SASLJ, Vol. 2, No.1 – Spring/Summer 2018 25