Abstract:

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to investigate the social and emotional development of children between the ages of 4 and 12 who stutter, together with different variables, by taking family opinions. These variables are social environment factors (socio-economic level, number of siblings, birth order, private area, parent occupation), the quality of the relationship with parents (parental attitude, relationship between parents, spending time with parents individually) and emotional reaction changes (excitement, fear, anxiety, stress, panic, trying to tell something) and their effects on social-emotional development were examined. Method: The study group of the research consists of the families of students aged 4-12 who experience stuttering. The research was obtained with 326 families who voluntarily participated in Turkey in accordance with these criteria. In the research, the Family Information Form developed by the researchers and the "Measurement of Social Emotional Development of Stuttering Students" scale developed by Akdağ and Kavgaoğlu were used as data collection tools. SPSS 22.0 program was used for the analysis of the data, and the analyzes were carried out with the Kruskal Wallis Test and Mann-Whitney U test, which are nonparametric statistical tests. Results: According to the opinions taken from 326 volunteer families participating in the study, when the social-emotional development of children aged 4-12 with stuttering was evaluated in terms of social environment factors; in favor of families with income above the minimum income according to the socio-economic level of the family (p=0.02); in favor of those born as the third child according to the birth order of the child (p=0.04); the fact that the child has a room of his own differs in favor of the children who have a personal room (p=0.02). When the social and emotional development of children is evaluated in terms of the quality of the relationship established with their parents; social-emotional development was in favor of democratic parents according to authoritarian and democratic family attitudes (p=0.02), in favor of elder brother according to holding authority (p=0.03); in favor of a good relationship according to the relationship between parents (p=0.00); it differs in favor of parents-children who can spend time individually (p=0.00) according to the ability to spend time with their parents individually. In addition, when the increase in children's speech disorders is evaluated in terms of the mood changes, they experience; It differs in favor of trying to tell something (p=0.02) and in favor of emotional reactions such as excitement, anxiety, fear, stress, anger and panic (p=0.02). Conclusion: In the study, it was concluded that the social and emotional development of the children who stuttered according to the answers given by the participating parents was moderate (SD 33.56±8.24), and this development was affected by the factors of the social environment, the quality of the relationship established with the parents, and the mood changes of the children. In this regard, it is believed that coping skills training sessions are needed for children and parents to deal with emotions and it can also support social-emotional development in speech disorders cases.

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