Journal of Speech Pathology & Therapy
Open Access

The German Communication Attitude Test for Preschool and Kindergarten Children Who Stutter (KiddyCAT-G): Reliability and First Reference Data

Sandra Neumann^1*, Christian Rietz², Martine Vanryckeghem³, Regina Tiefenthaller¹ and Prisca Stenneken¹

¹Department of Pedagogics and Therapy in Speech-Language Disorders, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

²Department of Mixed Methods Research, University of Education Heidelberg, Germany

³College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA

Received Date: Dec 10, 2018 / Accepted Date: Dec 26, 2018 / Published Date: Jan 02, 2019

Citation: Neumann S, Vanryckeghem M, Tiefenthaller R, Rietz C, Stenneken P (2019) The German Communication Attitude Test for Preschool and Kindergarten Children Who Stutter (KiddyCAT-G): Reliability and First Reference Data. J Speech Pathol Ther 3: 138

Copyright: © 2019 Neumann S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Objective: To investigate reliability and describe reference data of the KiddyCAT-G, an authorized German adaptation of the ‘Communication Attitude Test for preschool and kindergarten children who stutter.

Method: Children (3.0-5.11 yrs) who do not stutter (CWNS; n=150) and children who stutter (CWS; n=30) completed the KiddyCAT-G. In order to determine test-retest reliability, the KiddyCAT-G was re-administered to a sub-sample of children (n=35; CWNS: n=15, CWS: n=20) one week later. Their parents completed a sociodemographic questionnaire.

Results: The KiddyCAT-G had moderate to high values of internal consistency for both groups (CWNS: α=0.61; CWS: α=0.79), as well as high test-retest-reliability (r=0.983, p<0.001). Group comparisons showed significantly higher mean scores for CWS (M=3.73, SD=2.92) than for CWNS (M=1.47, SD=1.65). In both groups, younger children (3.0–4.6 yrs) scored descriptively higher than older ones, a difference that was non-significant for the CWS, but significant for CWNS.

Conclusion: The internal consistency and test-retest-reliability of this assessment tool of communication attitude supports its use by SLPs for clinical and research purposes in German-speaking children. Data of 150 CWNS give first reference values.

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