Each book is a targeted selection made by Kreger to,
she said, “help the child develop words and language to express
themselves related to the way they speak and talk.”
Kreger added that one of the main goals of this
research was to develop resilience in children, a protective factor
that may mitigate the development of adverse impacts from stuttering.
The study was performed last summer and fall with
children ages 5-8 years old. Each child and their caregivers
completed a four-week intervention that included at least one book
with a related activity per week and discussion topics, all
parent-led. Singer worked directly with the child to evaluate their
communication skills and feelings towards communication before the
intervention. Kreger worked with the parents to explain how the
books and activities were part of the process.
Resilience improved for all children in the pilot
study, they said. “We are seeing that parents tend to think their
children have more resilience and that the children tend to have
lower perceptions of their resilience,” said Kreger.
Singer said their research will help doctors,
caregivers and speech-language pathologists learn one way to support
the child’s perception of their communication abilities. “The
supporters can talk about stuttering neutrally and positively to
develop foundations for how the child views their speech, rather
than waiting for the third-grade bully to do it,” Singer said.
Kreger, a native of Gaylord, will graduate in April
with a bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology. She began
working with Singer as a sophomore at the Stuttering in Pediatrics
and Adults Lab (SPA Lab).
“I just always wanted to help people, that’s why I
looked towards health care and even teaching. Speech-language
pathology was this nice middle ground between those two worlds,”
said Kreger, who plans to pursue a master’s degree in the subject.
Thomas Garrett is a student writer for University
Communications. Garrett, a native of Stevensville, is a senior who
is majoring in writing.
