A SELECTED READING AND REFERENCE LIST OF PUBLICATIONS FROM 1896 TO 1966 ON THE NATURE, RECOGNITION, AND TREATMENT OF LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES IS PRESENTED. THE TITLES WERE SELECTED ON THE BASIS OF RELEVANCE TO THE GENERAL INTERESTS AND SPECIFIC NEEDS OF PEOPLE CONCERNED WITH LANGUAGE DISORDERS, PARTICULARLY WITH A SPECIFIC LANGUAGE DISABILITY.…

Presented is a series of studies in which the efficacy of applying operant conditioning methodologies to the problem of stuttering was examined. One requirement was that the designed therapeutic programs utilize only verbal contingent stimuli (reinforcers and punishers) in the traditional therapeutic setting (client and therapist seated together…

Indiana school speech-language pathologists (n=157) responded to a survey regarding their educational and clinical preparation and current clinical practices with people who stutter. Respondents reported receiving insufficient academic and clinical preparation to work with people who stutter. Nearly half reported that their clinical skills are…

A response is presented to commentaries (EC 232 375-377) on two papers (EC 232 373 and EC 232 374), focusing on research methodology on stuttering, the impact of improving intrajudge and interjudge agreement, the importance of studying stuttering as a private experience rather than an acoustical event, and speakers' experience of loss of control…

This article describes a conceptual framework for developing a multifaceted, individualized treatment program for young children who stutter, their families, and their preschool or day-care staff. Suggestions are provided for reducing environmental demands through education, affective support, and behavior change facilitation. Direct therapy…

This article discusses diagnostic considerations in identifying coexisting communication disorders and in differentiating between stuttering and secondary fluency disorders related to language formulation. Options for structuring therapy for coexisting problems are evaluated, including blended, lagged, and cycled approaches. Concerns implicit in…

A rating instrument is described that can be used to assess the results of stuttering treatments. The instrument yields a comprehensive and detailed description of speech quality in terms of articulation, phonation, pitch, and loudness, as well as naturalness. Psychometric characteristics of the instrument are analyzed, and methodological problems…

Research and clinical data regarding concomitant speech and language problems in children who stutter are reviewed, along with theoretical models explaining this interrelationship. A framework is presented for the differential evaluation of children who stutter, involving four areas of assessment: case history, fluency assessment, language skills…

This survey of 616 Canadian high-school adolescents suggests that light and mild head injury is almost 10 times as common as hospital-reported incidence. The study found significant relationships between reported head injury and hyperactivity, stuttering, mixed handedness, and dislike of mathematics. (Author/JDD)

An approach to enlisting the involvement of school personnel in fluency assessment and treatment programs is described. The approach involves observations of students in a variety of academic and social situations and information exchange meetings between clinician and school personnel. A classroom-based fluency program using collaborative service…

A study compared the phonological abilities of 22 preschool children whose stuttering persisted and 62 who recovered. Those whose stuttering persisted had poorer mean scores on a number of phonological characteristics, including mean percentage of error, relative levels of severity of phonological impairments, and error on specific phonological…

A study investigated whether age, gender, period from onset to treatment, and stuttering severity related to the required treatment time of 250 preschoolers who completed the Lidcombe Program. Data indicate that, for a short period after stuttering onset, a short delay in treatment did not appear to increase treatment time. (Contains references.)…

Pragmatics, the use of language in context, has been investigated only recently in the language used by children who stutter (CWS). Historically, researchers compared the length and complexity of the syntactic constructions produced by these children with those of children who do not stutter (CWNS) and generally found the CWS to be relatively…