This study of 21 children (ages 4-6) found that children with stuttering and disordered phonology produced more sound prolongations and fewer iterations per whole-word repetition than did children who stuttered but had normal phonology. No differences were noted between children with stuttering and disordered phonology and children with disordered…

Two experiments investigating interval-by-interval interjudge and intrajudge agreement for stuttered and nonstuttered speech intervals found that training of judges could improve reliability levels; judges with relatively high intrajudge agreement also showed relatively higher interjudge agreement; and interval-by-interval interjudge agreement was…

Of 169 adult and adolescent stutterers studied, 112 reported family history of stuttering. Only 3 of the 112 reported birth or early childhood factors that might precipitate stuttering, as opposed to 21 of those without family history of stuttering. By considering these two conditions as separate factors in behavior, stutterers may be divided into…

This study compared verbal disfluency and accessory characteristics of 15 African-American and 15 White male stutterers (ages 8-12). Overall, no significant differences were found in verbal- or visual-disfluency behaviors on either reading or conversation tasks between the two groups. Also, no significant differences were found in attitudes toward…

Researchers studied the effects of self-modeling as an intervention for stuttering in school-aged students. Students viewed videotapes of themselves speaking fluently over a six-week period. All students evidenced a decrease in stuttering after viewing tapes. The increased fluency generalized to social settings. Results replicate those of an…

Guidelines for documenting treatment efficacy for young children who stutter are suggested and illustrated. Measures in four realms are delineated: (1) conditions of documentation, (2) dependent variables, (3) establishment of treatment integrity, and (4) verification of the relationship between treatment and outcome. (Author/DB)

Seventy-nine children (ages 3 through 7) were asked to discriminate between the speech (fluent and disfluent) of two puppets, identify the one who "speaks like you," and evaluate their speech. Children from age 3 showed evidence of some awareness of disfluencies but most children reached full awareness at 5. Negative evaluation of…

Twelve adult males who stutter and 12 controls were tested on naming words and symbols and their ability to encode and retrieve memory representations of a combination of a symbol and a word. Findings question the claim that people who stutter have problems in creating abstract motor plans for speech. (Author/DB)

This paper first reviews four classes of habit disorders in children: motor and vocal tics, nervous habits, stuttering, and Tourette's disorder. It then describes the habit reversal procedure and reviews the literature on its use and variations to treat each of the four classes of habit disorders. Emphasis is on simplified versions of the original…

This study evaluated the language abilities of 15 young children with early stuttering symptoms and parents' views of the children's communicative development. Results indicated generally depressed performance on all child speech and language measures by the children who stutter. Parent report was closely attuned to measured child performance.…

This study examined the levels of linguistic demand in maternal language to stuttering and nonstuttering children. No significant or observable differences were detected in the relative level of linguistic demand posed by parents of stuttering children very close to onset of symptoms. Results do not support theories that parental language demands…

What should parents of a child who stutters do if their child speaks more than one language? Research shows that a child's language skills can affect his or her fluency, according to the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation of America. However, it has not been proven that speaking two languages in the home since birth causes stuttering. If the child is…

In the profession of speech-language pathology, it is commonly reported that children who stutter, as a group, are more likely to have phonological and language disorders than their non-stuttering peers. Some support for this belief comes from survey studies that have questioned speech-language pathologists about the children on their caseloads…

This paper reflects on the application of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to the field of stuttering. It is argued that the SFL theory may offer insight into the impact that stuttering has on language use. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the application of SFL theory. The two SFL analyses found to be of most use in this pilot…

Background: Similar positive results (e.g. immediate decreases in stuttering frequency and a 60-80% recovery rate from stuttering) have been reported for numerous therapeutic protocols for treating childhood stuttering, many of which have been diametrically opposite in their orientations and implementations. For example, Johnson advocated indirect…