title: Scores on Riley's stuttering severity instrument versions three and four for samples of different length and for different types of speech material.
abstract: Riley stated that the minimum speech sample length necessary to compute his stuttering severity estimates was 200 syllables. This was investigated. Procedures supplied for the assessment of readers and non-readers were examined to see whether they give equivalent scores. Recordings of spontaneous speech samples from 23 young children (aged between 2 years 8 months and 6 years 3 months) and 31 older children (aged between 10 years 0 months and 14 years 7 months) were made. Riley's severity estimates were scored on extracts of different lengths. The older children provided spontaneous and read samples, which were scored for severity according to reader and non-reader procedures. Analysis of variance supported the use of 200-syllable-long samples as the minimum necessary for obtaining severity scores. There was no significant difference in SSI-3 scores for the older children when the reader and non-reader procedures were used. Samples that are 200-syllables long are the minimum that is appropriate for obtaining stable Riley's severity scores. The procedural variants provide similar severity scores.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London , London , UK and.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Todd
authors.forename: Avin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirawdeli
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costelloe
authors.forename: Penny
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cavenagh
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Howell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013342:Stuttering / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: Developmental stuttering; percent syllables stuttered; screening; stuttering severity instrument