Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES): Documenting multiple outcomes in stuttering treatment

This paper describes a new instrument for evaluating the experience of the stuttering disorder from the perspective of individuals who stutter. Based on the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health [World Health Organization (2001). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, & Health. Geneva: World Health Organization], the Overall Assessment of the Speaker' s Experience of Stuttering (OASES) collects information about the totality of the stuttering disorder, including: (a) general perspectives about stuttering, (b) affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions to stuttering, (c) functional communication difficulties, and (d) impact of stuttering on the speaker's quality of life. This paper summarizes scale development, reliability and validity assessment, and scoring procedures so clinicians and researchers can use the OASES to add to the available evidence about the outcomes of a variety of treatment approaches for adults who stutter. Educational objectives: As a result of this activity, participants will be able to: (1) identify key issues related to the documentation of treatment outcomes in stuttering; (2) discuss the components of the international classification of functioning, disability, and health as they relate to the documentation of stuttering treatment outcomes; (3) evaluate and use a new measurement instrument for assessing the outcomes of stuttering treatment from the perspective of the person who stutters.