As soon as a clinician prepares to meet a client and his or her family, the clinician must begin to consider possible cultural factors. Gathering information concerning the client's culture and language can reveal many important factors such as cultural beliefs of the cause of stuttering, a culture's view of the importance of fluency, unexpected atttitudes among clients, and discourse rules within certain cultures.
Various cultures view the cause of stuttering differently.
These SLPs see stuttering as an emotional disorder which can only be treated effectively by psychologists. Therefore, when assessing a client, the clinician must be sensitive when addressing the cause of stuttering in order to be informative while also respecting the client and family's beliefs. When assessing a client, the clinician should also know the importance that the client's culture places on fluency. Such a view may exacerbate the fear of speaking for someone who stutters. In order to avoid such negative feelings, people who stutter may utilize more secondary behaviors, attempting to escape or avoid stuttering.