THE NECESSITY OF IMPROVING INFORMATION-CONSULTING SYSTEM OF SPEECH THERAPY SUPPORT REGARDING THE STUTTERING ISSUES IN THE EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURES

The aim of the study was to discover the level of awareness, knowledge and perceptions of the pedagogues on the perspectives and the ways of overcoming stuttering and the role of the psychological-pedagogical environment. The theoretical basis for this study was obtained throughout the analysis of about 32 scientific-pedagogical sources that address the issues of understanding the problems in the information-consulting field during the process of overcoming stuttering. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to outline the gaps in the psychological and pedagogical support provided to stuttering people and to identify the level of awareness of the pedagogical staff of the educational settings regarding these issues. In total 100 employees: 77 pedagogues (30 teachers, 30 subject teachers, and 17 educators) and 23 special pedagogues working in the field of psycho-pedagogy took part in the current survey. The results stated that the perception about the real edges of overcoming stuttering formed in the society in Armenia was very limited and the efficiency of speech therapy work was low. About 93% of the participants had general view related to the stuttering manifestations and there were passive implementation and awareness of effective methods for overcoming the stuttering. Only 5% (special pedagogues) were aware of the single approaches such as “silence mode; syllabic speech” used with stuttering children, which were not considered comprehensive methods to treat the stuttering. Due to absence of professional speech therapy information-consulting system and lack of highly qualified specialists, 59% of the respondents convinced that overcoming the stuttering was impossible. The findings of current study indicated the need to develop the information-consulting system and recommendation guidelines for the pedagogues to support children in process of overcoming stuttering, as well as the methods of cooperation between the family members and speech therapists.