Purpose: Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder that disrupts the timing and rhythmic flow of speech production. There is growing evidence indicating that abnormal interactions between the auditory and motor cortices contribute to the development of stuttering. The present study investigated speech auditory-motor synchronization in stuttering…

Assessments of oral reading are widely used for screening, progress monitoring, and comprehensive evaluations. Despite the utility and technical adequacy of these tools, there are subgroups of students for whom measures of oral reading may be inappropriate. The first section of this article focuses on how tests of oral reading may underestimate…

Background: Stuttering, a neurodevelopmental speech fluency disorder, is associated with intermittent disruptions of speech-motor control. Behavioural treatments for adults who stutter (AWS) concentrate on adopting speech patterns that enhance fluency, such as speaking rhythmically or prolonging speech sounds. However, maintaining these treatment…

Purpose: Early childhood stuttering is associated with atypical speech motor development. Compared with children who do not stutter (CWNS), the speech motor systems of school-age children who stutter (CWS) may also be particularly susceptible to breakdown under increased processing demands. The effects of increased syntactic complexity and…

Purpose: Working memory (WM) deficits are implicated in various communication disorders, including stuttering. The reading span test (RST) measures WM capacity with the dual task of reading sentences aloud and remembering target words. This study demonstrates a difference in strategy between people who stutter (PWS) and people who do not stutter…

Purpose: We examined the effects of physiological arousal on speech motor control and speech motor practice effects in preschool-age children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS). Method: Participants included 18 CWS (M[subscript age] = 4 years 5 months) and 18 age- and gender-matched CWNS. The participants repeated a phrase "buy bobby a…

Purpose: We advanced a multifactorial, dynamic account of the complex, nonlinear interactions of motor, linguistic, and emotional factors contributing to the development of stuttering. Our purpose here is to update our account as the multifactorial dynamic pathways theory. Method: We review evidence related to how stuttering develops, including…

Purpose: Stuttering involves a breakdown in the speech motor system. We address whether stuttering in its early stage is specific to the speech motor system or whether its impact is observable across motor systems. Method: As an extension of Olander, Smith, and Zelaznik (2010), we measured bimanual motor timing performance in 115 children: 70…