Spontaneous and internet-informed parent responses to early stuttering.

Understanding initial parent responses to early stuttering provides a foundation to build a strong therapeutic alliance, and promotes shared decision-making during intervention, allowing for tailored education and support. In a digital age where health-related decision-making often begins with an in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Fluency Disorders Vol. 88
Main Authors: Johnson, Georgina, Shenker, Rosalee, Santayana, Gissella, Onslow, Mark
Format: research Journal Article
Published: Elsevier B.V. Jun2026
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      jtl: Journal of Fluency Disorders
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      dt: Jun2026
      vid: 88
      pid: 467
      pub: Elsevier B.V.
      place: New York, New York
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        194449647
        194449647
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        10.1016/j.jfludis.2026.106199
        194449647
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        atl: Spontaneous and internet-informed parent responses to early stuttering.
      aug:
        au:
          Johnson, Georgina
          Shenker, Rosalee
          Santayana, Gissella
          Onslow, Mark
        affil: University of Melbourne, Department of Audiology & Speech Pathology, VIC, Australia
      sug:
        subj:
          Access to Information
          Parents Psychosocial Factors
          Internet
          Health Information
          Information Resources
          Parental Attitudes Evaluation
          Fluency Disorders Psychosocial Factors
          Human
          Health Knowledge
          Health Beliefs
          Referral and Consultation
          Child, Preschool
          Severity of Illness
          Videorecording
          Internet Searching
          Thematic Analysis
          Comparative Studies
          Fluency Disorders Therapy
          Patient Care Plans
          Misinformation Prevention and Control
          Therapeutic Alliance
          Behavioral Changes
          Speech-Language Pathology
          Information Seeking Behavior
          Descriptive Statistics
          Child, Preschool: 2-5 years
      ab: Understanding initial parent responses to early stuttering provides a foundation to build a strong therapeutic alliance, and promotes shared decision-making during intervention, allowing for tailored education and support. In a digital age where health-related decision-making often begins with an internet search, it is important to understand how it might influence their initial responses. Therefore, this study explored how access to internet-based information may influence parent responses to childhood stuttering onset. This helps clinicians to understand knowledge and beliefs parents may bring to initial clinical consultations. Participants were parents of 2–4-year-olds who did not stutter, and who had no prior experience of stuttering. They were given information about early stuttering and shown five video clips depicting varying degrees of stuttering severity in preschool-age children. They were asked to reflect on five actions they would take if their child began to stutter. These actions were guided by either internet searches or relied on intuition alone. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to examine and interpret patterns in these parent responses. Compared to parents in the spontaneous response group, internet-informed parents more frequently described self-modification, with adjustments to their own speech and a "wait-and-see" approach. In contrast, spontaneous parent responses more often described speech-focused strategies directed at the child. Results provide insights that inform speech-language pathology practices by helping clinicians (a) align treatment planning with parent perspectives, (b) correct misinformation, and (c) foster stronger therapeutic alliances from the outset. • Parents reported that they would implement behavioral, environmental, and observational strategies if their child began stuttering. • Internet-informed parents more frequently described adjustments to their own behaviour. • Spontaneous parent responses more often described speech-focused strategies directed at the child. • During internet searching, parents were directed to reputable but general health sites. • Few parents accessed specialist stuttering resources online, or professional speech-language pathology organizations.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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