KiddyCAT© - communication attitude test for preschool children who stutter

The aim of this paper is to investigate the communication attitude of preschool children who stutter by using the KiddyCAT©, and to determine whether there are differences in communication attitude among preschool children who stutter, and their peers who are fluent speakers. Data are based on a normative sample of 49 preschool CWS and 74 preschool CWNS. The children were divided into two subgroups according to age – ‘’younger’’ 3 – 4.4 years old and ‘’older’’ 4.5 – 6 years old. Results showed that preschool CWS scored statistically significantly higher on KiddyCAT© than preschool CWNS (large effect size). There is the mean difference in scores between younger and older preschool CWS but it is not statistically significant (small effect size). Negative communication attitude in preschool CWS increases with age, whereas an opposite observation was made for preschool CWNS, the mean difference was not statistically significant. Gender did not affect the test results. The KiddyCAT© is a useful tool for the early detection of communication attitude of preschool children and helps in deciding on stuttering therapy