Cluster formation in speech disfluencies of 15 preschool stuttering children and 15 nonstuttering controls was studied and compared. Clustering was found to be a significant factor in disfluent speech for both normal and stuttering children, but proportions of clustered disfluencies and size of clusters were significantly greater in the…

The investigation surveyed a sample of 650 speech-language pathologists providing services in elementary schools to obtain information on the concomitant problems of stutterers in their caseloads. The results of the survey revealed that 32% of all the young stutterers were free of any other problems. (Author)

Immediate and extended families of 66 stuttering children were investigated to determine frequencies of persistent and recovered stuttering. Recovery was far more common among females than males. Recovery or persistence was found to be transmitted, but the two types are not genetically independent, consistent with hypothesis that both forms share…

This study with 10 adults who stutter and 10 nonstuttering controls completed speech, orofacial nonspeech, and finger isochronous rhythmic timing tasks to investigate the role of timing in stuttering. Findings extend growing evidence that stuttering individuals do not differ from nonstuttering individuals in the ability to generate temporal…

This study examined language and fluency characteristics of single-utterance (SU) and multiple-utterance (MU)conversational turns produced by 15 preschoolers who stutter and 15 nonstuttering peers. Results suggest that MU turns are demanding for young children because they evoke relatively long and complex utterances and that clinicians should…

Analysis of lip and jaw motion in 18 stutterers and 10 nonstutterers found that adult stutterers who had been through speech therapy showed significant increases in jaw movement duration and time to peak velocity of the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw. Results suggest that anomalies in stutterers' fluent speech may be the result of acquired…

Speech-related reaction time measures and fluency-related measures of 24 adult stutterers and a like number of nonstutterers were assessed to determine their diagnostic discriminative power. Findings suggested that both fluency failures and the duration of laryngeal adjustment time are useful diagnostic measures for discriminating stutterers from…

The study found that stutterers (N=10) were significantly more variable than nonstutterers in their ability to achieve stable fundamental frequency diminution patterns in vowels immediately following stop consonants. Stutterers were not significantly different from the nonstutterers in their ability to achieve a stable fundamental frequency over…

Comparison of acoustic correlates of phonatory control in the fluent utterances of 10 preschool-aged boys who were stutterers and in nonstuttering control subjects found significant differences between the two groups for shimmer measures. (Author/DB)

This study attempted to empirically demonstrate the validity of a twofold classification of speech disfluency in adult stutterers. Instrumentation and procedures permitting reliable identification and coding of 9 disfluency behaviors were developed and applied to monologues of 180 adult stutterers. Factor analyses supported the two-factor…

This study examined acoustic durations in 12 children (ages 3 to 9) who stuttered and received treatment based either on speech motor training (SMT) or extended length of utterance (ELU). Although the ELU treatment reduced stuttering more than the SMT, the SMT was more effective in increasing vowel duration and decreasing stop gap duration.…

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to describe 10 criteria that may help clinicians distinguish between scientific and pseudoscientific treatment claims. The criteria are illustrated, first for considering whether to use a newly developed treatment and second for attempting to understand arguments about controversial treatments. Method:…

Past research has suggested that children who stutter (CWS) may have less well-developed language skills than fluent children, and that such relative linguistic deficiencies may play a role in precipitating their disfluencies. However, data to support this position are primarily derived from results of standardized diagnostic inventories, which…

Stuttering characteristics, assessment, and treatment principles present challenges to assessment and treatment that can be addressed with virtual reality (VR) technology. This article describes how VR can be used to assist clinicians in meeting some of these challenges with adults who stutter. A review of current VR research at the Stuttering…

It was hypothesized that stuttering may be related to impaired sensory gating, leading to overflow of superfluous disturbing auditory feedback and breakdown of the speech sequence. This hypothesis was tested using the "acoustic startle prepulse inhibition" (PPI) paradigm. A group of 22 adults with developmental stuttering were compared…