Purpose: Stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) and typical disfluencies (TDs) are both more likely to occur as utterance length increases. However, longer and shorter utterances differ by more than the number of morphemes: They may also serve different communicative functions or describe different ideas. Decontextualized language, or language that…

Purpose: Disfluencies can be classified as stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) or typical disfluencies (TDs). Dividing TDs further, stalls (fillers and repetitions) are thought to be prospective, occurring due to planning glitches, and revisions (word and phrase revisions, word fragments) are thought to be retrospective, occurring when a speaker…

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…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine whether there are speech rhythm differences between preschool-age children who stutter that were eventually diagnosed as persisting (CWS-Per) or recovered (CWS-Rec) and children who do not stutter (CWNS), using empirical spectral analysis and empirical mode decomposition of the…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate cortical tracking of speech (CTS) in adults who stutter (AWS) compared to typically fluent adults (TFAs) to test the involvement of the speech-motor network in tracking rhythmic speech information. Method: Participants' electroencephalogram was recorded while they simply listened to sentences…

The purpose of this article is to provide a theoretical account of the experience of stuttering that incorporates previous explanations and recent experimental findings. According to this account, stuttering-like disfluencies emerge during early childhood from excessive detection of cognitive conflict due to subtle limitations in speech and…

Purpose: Although commonly defined as a speech disorder, stuttering interacts with the language production system in important ways. Our purpose is to summarize research findings on linguistic variables that influence stuttering assessment and treatment. Method and Results: Numerous topics are summarized. First, we review research that has…

Purpose: This study evaluated the relationship between "emotional regulation" (ER) and adverse impact related to stuttering across the developmental spectrum, in preschool and school-age children, adolescents, and adults who stutter. An additional aim examined how these variables relate to the ways that individuals approach speaking…

Purpose: Previous studies have shown that individuals who stutter exhibit abnormal speech perception in addition to disfluent production as compared with their nonstuttering peers. This study investigated whether adult Chinese-speaking stutterers are still able to use knowledge of statistical regularities embedded in their native language to…

Purpose: People who stutter (PWS) have more unstable speech motor systems than people who are typically fluent (PWTF). Here, we used real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the vocal tract to assess variability and duration of movements of different articulators in PWS and PWTF during fluent speech production. Method: The vocal tracts of 28…

Purpose: This study measures the experience of spontaneous speech in everyday speaking situations. Spontaneity of speech is a novel concept developed to account for the subjective experience of speaking. Spontaneous speech is characterized by little premeditation and effortless production, and it is enjoyable and meaningful. Attention is not…

Purpose: Contemporary motor theories indicate that well-practiced movements are best performed automatically, without conscious attention or monitoring. We applied this perspective to speech production in school-age children and examined how dual-task conditions that engaged sustained attention affected speech fluency, speech rate, and language…

Background: Theoretically, reductions of self-esteem among people who stutter (PWS) are often explained by individual negative cognitions or emotions of the PWS or their conversation partners. We propose that the flow of a conversation can be seen as a representation of the relationship between speakers, and that by disrupting this flow, a stutter…

Purpose: Evidence increasingly indicates that people with developmental stuttering have auditory perception deficits. Our previous research has indicated similar but slower performance in categorical perception of the speech sounds under the quiet condition in children who stutter and adults who stutter (AWS) compared with their typically fluent…

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…