Stuttering is a communication disorder which can include repetitions, prolongations, or having gaps in speech (blocks, with no sound). Stuttering is also known as stammering, although the correct term is actually dysphemia. In this article, the author shares her stuttering experience so that others will realize what it is like to live with a…

Van Borsel, Dor, and Rondal (2007) examined the speech of seven boys and two young male adults with fragile X syndrome and considered whether their speech was comparable to that reported in the developmental stuttering literature. They listed five criteria which led them to conclude that the speech patterns of speakers with fragile X syndrome…

The author responds to criticism of her research on token reinforcement in stuttering by reviewing methodological issues as well as concerns related to the token systems. (CL)

In a reply to a review of replicated findings on stuttering, the author adds 14 points concerning symptoms, prevalence, incidence, stutterer-nonstutterer differences, and variability of stuttering. He takes exception to the review's statements on treatment and theories of stuttering. (CL)

The author responds to a review of replicated findings about stuttering and examines issues related to its possible genetic source, the role of hemispheric assymetries, and fluency-inducing conditions. A theoretical framework for the replicated findings is explored. (CL)

The article presents brief reviews of 20 works of children's fiction in which a character stutters. Noted are ways authors portray such aspects of stuttering as symptomatology, causation, and treatment. (Author/DB)

A reaction to the review of replicated findings concerning stuttering cites disagreement with the definition of stuttering used and notes implications for findings on treatment, clinical effects, recovery, stutterer-nonstutterer differences, and theory. (CL)

This paper argues against definitions of stuttering which imply that all within-word disfluencies are stuttering and no between-word disfluencies are stuttering. The paper calls for a definition of stuttering that is not contradicted by available empirical information or clinical experience and is logically consistent. (JDD)

This letter to the editor comments on a 1998 article by J. S. Yaruss which proposed that classification of stuttering be adopted to foster improvement in basic understanding. The article is critiqued as failing to recognize the two major components of a stuttering event and for the author's definitions of impairment and disability as applied to…

The author responds to a study which suggested that token reinforcement is redundant in stating and shaping fluent speech within a stuttering program. He cites methodological differences as well as procedural differences in the treatment programs mentioned. (Author/CL)

A theory of neurolinguistic function is proposed to explain fluency and the production of stuttered speech disruptions. Stuttering results when the speaker is under time pressure and is unaware of the cause of dyssynchrony between the linguistic and paralinguistic components of speech which are processed by different neural systems but converge on…

The authors of a research report (1999) on the diagnosis of stuttering in young children respond to a critical letter by questioning the accuracy, validity, credibility, and internal consistency of the letter writer's criticisms. The reply goes on to clarify the evaluation of stuttering-like disfluencies and single-syllable word repetitions in…

This letter critiques a research report (Ambrose and Yairi, 1999) on diagnosis of stuttering in young children, especially the methodological issues concerned with subject selection criteria that excluded borderline cases and the use of a weighting procedure to eliminate group overlap. Also noted is the failure to distinguish between stuttering…

This response to a letter (EC 627 691) critical of the authors' research report (1999) on the diagnosis of stuttering in young children defends their subject selection criteria, justifies their use of a weighted measure of stuttering-like disfluencies, and notes continuing disagreement concerning the difference between stuttering and disfluency.…

This rebuttal of a response to the author's original article on improved classification of stuttering in the context of disability, impairment, and handicap, stresses that the model originally proposed carefully distinguishes the two major aspects of stuttering and offers definitions of impairment, disability, and handicap consistent with the…