SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “STUTTERING”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

PubMed1985

Mother and child speech rates as a variable in stuttering and disfluency.

Three questions were addressed in this study: (a) Do mothers of stuttering children talk faster than mothers of nonstuttering children, (b) do stuttering children talk faster than nonstuttering children, and (c) is there a relationship between child's rate of speech and mother's rate of speech in dyadic conversation? Twelve nonstuttering preschool boys and their mothers were matched with 12 stutterers and their mothers. Ten min of free-play interaction between alternated mother-child dyads were video recorded. Speech rates, defined as syllables per second in fluent utterances, were calculated. Results demonstrated that mothers of stutterers talked significantly faster to all children. Stutterers spoke slower than nonstutterers, and severe stutterers spoke slower than moderate stutterers. A correlational analysis revealed that the more the child stuttered, the slower he talked during fluent speech. Further, the slower the child talked during fluent speech, the faster the mother interacting with him talked. The results reveal an interactive and complex relationship between mother and child speech rates. The interpretation of results relating to child speech rates was complicated by post hoc analyses revealing a significant relationship between speech rates and utterance length.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed1992

Brain blood flow related to acoustic laryngeal reaction time in adult developmental stutterers.

The 1980s witnessed renewed interest in the relation between developmental stuttering and central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities. We have reported differences between nonstutterers and developmental stutterers on electrophysiologic (QTE) and metabolic (rCBF) measures of brain function. A critical step in the interpretation of results of functional brain imaging studies is to determine the relation, if any, of identified CNS abnormalities to speech motor control in persons who stutter. In this study we addressed the interpretation of rCBF findings by asking whether we could identify patterns of impaired acoustic laryngeal reaction time (LRT) as a function of response complexity parallel to rCBF findings. Stutterer subgroups determined by clinical severity ratings were not differentiated by LRT values as a function of response complexity. Stutterers with relative blood flow asymmetry below the normal median value involving both left superior and middle temporal regions of interest (ROIs) showed significantly longer LRT for the complex response than did normal speakers and stutterers with above-normal median relative flow values to at least one of these temporal ROIs. Stutterer subgroups based on reduced cingulate flow alone were not differentiated by LRT values. Findings are consistent with Goldberg's (1985) model of CNS premotor processing. Findings also suggest that stutterer subgroups might be distinguished by the presence, loci, and relative magnitude of cortical and/or subcortical rCBF abnormality in regions that subserve a fluency-generating system.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Parent verbal interactions and speech rate: a case study in stuttering.

This single-case study of indirect stuttering treatment is intended to identify variables for further research. The study used post hoc analyses of changes in parent speech variables and changes in the child's stuttering. The analysis was conducted in two parts. Study I examined the relationships between the child's percent syllables stuttered and the parents' speech rates and percentages of nonaccepting statements, interruptions, questions, nonaccepting questions, and talk time. The only parent variable significantly correlated with the child's stuttering was the mother's speech rate. In Study II the child's percent syllables stuttered were subdivided into primary (effortless) and secondary (tense) stuttering. Each category was then correlated with the parent variables examined previously. Results suggested that the parent variables that were significantly related to the child's primary stuttering were not the same as those significantly related to her secondary stuttering. Specific parent variables are suggested for further study.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed1992

Onset of stuttering in preschool children: selected factors.

This investigation provides updated information on the onset of stuttering, explores variations in the onset, and studies possible relationship of stuttering onset to the factors of age, gender, familial history, severity, and stress. Data were obtained for 87 preschool children through parent interviews, using a standardized questionnaire. Interviews were conducted within 12 months after the disorder was first diagnosed. Results for selected items indicated that onset tended to occur at an earlier age than was previously thought and was sudden and/or severe in a substantial number of cases. Physical or emotional stress and familial histories of stuttering were reported for many of the participating children. A significant gender factor was found. About twice as many boys as girls stuttered and girls began stuttering at a significantly earlier age. There was a positive relationship between severe stuttering and sudden onset. Several other tendencies for relationship between factors were either weak or not significant for the present sample size. The findings are discussed with special reference to the possible relationship between stuttering onset and maturational processes and the possible contribution of data on onset to the differentiation of stutterers.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1994

Prolonged speech and modification of stuttering: perceptual, acoustic, and electroglottographic data.

Prolonged speech and its variants are a group of novel speech patterns that form the basis of a popular treatment for stuttering (Ingham, 1984). It is difficult to determine which features of prolonged speech are necessary for the elimination of stuttered speech because the speech pattern produces simultaneous changes in respiratory, laryngeal, and articulatory activity. Experimental studies have shown that the modification of phonation and of speech rate contributes to stuttering reduction, and increased duration of speech segments and reduced variability of vowel duration are known to occur as a result of prolonged-speech treatment programs. However, previous studies of prolonged speech have all instructed subjects to modify their customary speech patterns in a particular way. The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in the speech pattern of individual subjects when stuttering was modified with prolonged speech without specific instruction in how this should be done. In one experimental phase, 3 subjects showed clinically significant stuttering reductions when instructed to use whichever features of prolonged speech they needed to reduce their stuttering. The resulting perceptually stutter-free speech was judged to be natural sounding. Stuttering in a fourth subject reduced without experimental intervention. Recordings of acoustic and electroglottographic signals from the 4 subjects were analyzed. Changes in the variability of vowel duration occurred in all subjects. Theoretical and clinical implications of the results are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Identifying the onset and offset of stuttering events.

This study was designed to investigate the apparent contradiction between recent reports of physiological and interpersonal research on stuttering that claim or imply high agreement levels, and studies of stuttering judgment agreement itself that report much lower agreement levels. Four experienced stuttering researchers in one university department used laser videodisks of spontaneous speech, from persons whose stuttering could be described as mild to severe, to locate the precise onset and offset of individual stuttering events. Results showed a series of interjudge disagreements that raise serious questions about the reliability and validity of stuttering event onset and offset judgments. These results highlight the potentially poor reliability of a measurement procedure that is currently widespread in stuttering research. At the same time, they have isolated some few highly agreed stuttering events that might serve as the basis for the further development of either event-based or interval-based judgment procedures.

Female↗

PubMed1995

Results of a traditional acupuncture intervention for stuttering.

It is important that researchers investigate alternative strategies for treating stuttering, as contemporary treatments are not entirely successful in reducing stuttering with all people. Furthermore, many who have been "successfully" treated suffer from high relapse rates in the long term. Acupuncture has been shown to be a promising treatment for several diverse disorders, so a pilot investigation into its effectiveness for stuttering was considered worthwhile. This study investigated traditional acupuncture-based treatments for two adult males who had stuttered since childhood. A single-case experimental ABAB multiple baseline design was employed to test for treatment effectiveness. Subjects were followed up for a further 12 weeks to evaluate maintenance (C phase) of possible improvements. No significant ABAB reversal effects were observed, and stuttering frequency through the treatment phases remained at baseline levels for the two subjects. Speech rate also remained at baseline levels throughout the treatment phases, as did naturalness of speech and anxiety levels. This research is important as claims that acupuncture may successfully reduce stuttering need to be tested, and the scope and usefulness of treatments like acupuncture for a wide variety of problems needs to be determined. However, the low subject numbers involved suggest caution in concluding acupuncture is not a successful intervention for stuttering. Perhaps alternative acupuncture points need to be evaluated and a wider variety of persons who stutter need to be involved in any future research.

Acupuncture Therapy↗

PubMed1996

Phonological characteristics of children whose stuttering persisted or recovered.

Among children who stutter, more will be identified with articulation/phonological deficiencies than among normally fluent children of the same ages. Most current literature has focused on phonological differences between those children who stutter and those who do not. The present study examines early phonological differences between young children whose stuttering persisted and those who recovered from early stuttering. Thirty-six children, 12 whose stuttering persisted, 12 who recovered early, and 12 who recovered later, had been assessed by means of the Assessment of Phonological Processes--Revised (Hodson, 1986) soon after they were identified as exhibiting stuttering. After many months of longitudinal evaluation of their stuttering that led to their classification into the three groups, the early phonological assessments of these children were re-examined to identify differences. Overall mean percentage of error scores as well as error scores on specific phonological patterns showed that the persistent group differed significantly from normally fluent control subjects matched by age and sex. Scores of the two groups who recovered and their matched controls, however, did not differ significantly. Although poor phonological ability in the early stage of stuttering appears to be a contributing factor to the differentiation of persistence and recovery, the wide individual variations in scores within groups suggest that additional factors are necessary for reliable prediction.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1996

Treatment efficacy: stuttering.

The purpose of this article is to review the state of the art regarding treatment efficacy for stuttering in children, teenagers, and adults. Available evidence makes it apparent that individuals who stutter benefit from the services of speech-language pathologists, but it is also apparent that determining the outcome of stuttering treatment is neither easy nor simple. Whereas considerable research has documented the positive influence of treatment on stuttering frequency and behavior, far less attention has been paid to the effects of treatment on the daily life activities of people who stutter and their families. Although it seems reasonable to assume that ameliorating the disability of stuttering lessens the handicap of stuttering, considerably more evidence is needed to confirm this assumption. Despite such concerns, it also seems reasonable to suggest that the outcomes of treatment for many people who stutter are positive and should become increasingly so with advances in applied as well as basic research.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1997

Control of children's stuttering with response-contingent time-out: behavioral, perceptual, and acoustic data.

Many stuttering treatments incorporate contingencies for stuttering that are thought to contribute to treatment effectiveness. One contingency used in a number of treatment programs for children is time-out (TO) from speaking. However, although TO has been shown to control stuttering in adults there are no clear demonstrations of this effect in children. One aim of the present study was to demonstrate in the laboratory that TO reduces stuttering in children. Three school-age children spoke in a single-subject ABA experiment. In the B phase, a red light was illuminated for 5 seconds when the subject stuttered, during which time the subject stopped talking. Two of the three children showed clear reductions in stuttering in response to TO. The second aim of the study was to detect whether the children who responded to To adopted an unusual speech pattern in order to control their stuttering. Listeners did not detect any differences between the perceptually stutter-free speech of baseline conditions and that of TO conditions, and a subsequent acoustic analysis revealed a reduction in the variability of vowel duration during TO in one subject and no changes in the other. The theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

Child↗

PubMed1997

Children recovered from stuttering without formal treatment: perceptual assessment of speech normalcy.

Current evidence suggests that young children who recover from stuttering are essentially stutter-free. However, there is no evidence to indicate if their speech is perceptually indistinguishable from normally fluent peers or whether they retain perceptually unusual speech. One important example of recovery from stuttering is children who have recovered without receiving formal treatment. An investigation was conducted to determine if the speech of these children is perceptually different from the speech of children who have never stuttered. Speakers consisted of 10 preschool and early school-age children documented as recovered from stuttering without benefit of formal treatment. In a series of studies they were compared with 10 children who had never stuttered. Three groups of judges-sophisticated, unsophisticated, and experienced-were separately asked, using videotaped speech samples of the children, to decide which samples were from children who used to stutter. Results revealed that the children who recovered from stuttering were perceptually indistinguishable from the normal controls. The same result was obtained regardless of whether the samples were presented in paired-stimulus or single-stimulus mode. Two of the groups of judges were also instructed to rate the speech naturalness of the speech samples. The speakers were not distinguished on this measure either. Methodological issues and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Early childhood stuttering II: initial status of phonological abilities.

Research on the relation between stuttering and phonological/articulation deficits has been reported in the literature over several decades. Yet virtually none of these investigations has taken into account that "children who stutter" includes a large number who spontaneously recover within a few months or years after onset. Thus, little attention has been given to differences between the phonological abilities of children whose stuttering persists and those who recover. This investigation compares these two groups soon after stuttering onset, before it was possible to classify them as members of either group, on a number of phonological characteristics, including mean percentage of error, relative levels of severity of phonological impairment, error on specific phonological patterns, progress in development of key patterns, and the children's strategies for coping with unmastered patterns. The results indicate that the children whose stuttering would be persistent had poorer mean scores on each of our measures than did the children who would recover from stuttering. Both groups, however, showed progression in phonological development that followed the expected order, and they used typical strategies when patterns had not yet been acquired. The persistent group was moving more slowly, however, so phonological development was more delayed than in the children who would recover from stuttering. Our findings support the assumption that most previous studies probably have compared children with persistent stuttering to normally fluent children, and that those who recovered early were not considered differentially.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1999

Early childhood stuttering III: initial status of expressive language abilities.

This investigation evaluated the expressive language abilities of 84 preschool-age children who stuttered, 62 who recovered from stuttering, and 22 who persisted in stuttering. The participants were identical to those identified in E. Yairi and N. G. Ambrose (1999) and E. Paden, E. Yairi, and N. G. Ambrose (1999). A range of lexical, morphological, and syntactic measures--calculated from spontaneous language samples of approximately 250-300 utterances in length collected relatively near stuttering onset--were used to examine the children's expressive language skills. For the purpose of analysis and comparison to normative data, children were grouped into three age intervals, in terms of the age at which they entered the study (2- to 3-year-olds, 3- to 4-year-olds, and 4- to 5-year-olds). Findings revealed similarity in the expressive language abilities of children whose stuttering persisted as opposed to abated at all age intervals. In addition, persistent and recovered stutterers displayed expressive language abilities near or above developmental expectations, based on comparison with normative data, at all age intervals. Children who entered the study at the youngest age level consistently demonstrated expressive language abilities well above normative expectations; this pattern was found for both persistent and recovered groups. These findings provide relatively limited information to assist in the early differentiation of persistence in or recovery from stuttering, but they do shed light on theoretical issues regarding the nature and character of early stuttering and potential associations with language learning.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1999

A longitudinal investigation of speaking rate in preschool children who stutter.

Both clinical and theoretical interest in stuttering as a disorder of speech motor control has led to numerous investigations of speaking rate in people who stutter. The majority of these studies, however, has been conducted with adult and school-age groups. Most studies of preschoolers have included older children. Despite the ongoing theoretical and clinical focus on speaking rate in young children who stutter and their parents, no longitudinal or cross-sectional studies have been conducted to answer questions about the possible developmental link between stuttering and the rate of speech, or about differences in rate development between preschool children who stutter and normally fluent children. This investigation compared changes in articulatory rate over a period of 2 years in subgroups of preschool-age children who stutter and normally fluent children. Within the group of stuttering children, comparisons also were made between those who exhibited persistent stuttering and those who eventually recovered without intervention. Furthermore, the study compared two metrics of articulatory rate. Spontaneous speech samples, collected longitudinally over a 2-year period, were analyzed acoustically to determine speaking rate measured in number of syllables and phones per second. Results indicated no differences among the 3 groups when articulation rate was measured in syllables per second. Using the phones per second measure, however, significant group differences were found when comparing the control group to the recovered and persistent groups.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

A positron emission tomography study of silent and oral single word reading in stuttering and nonstuttering adults.

Over the last decade positron emission tomography (PET) has been used extensively for the study of language and other cognitive and sensorimotor processes in healthy and diseased individuals. In the present study, [15O]H2O PET scanning was used to investigate the lateralization and functional distribution of cortical and subcortical activity involved in single word reading in stuttering and nonstuttering individuals. Ten right-handed male stuttering adults and matched nonstuttering individuals were instructed to read individually presented single words either silently or out loud. Subtraction of functional brain images obtained during each of the two reading tasks, and during a non-linguistic baseline task, was used to calculate within-group and between-group differences in regional cerebral blood flow by means of statistical parametric mapping. Increased activation in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was observed during silent reading in the stuttering speakers but not in the nonstuttering group. Because of the hypothesized role of the ACC in selective attention and covert articulatory practice, it is suggested that the observed increased ACC activation in the stuttering individuals reflects the presence of cognitive anticipatory reactions related to stuttering. During the oral reading task, within-group comparisons showed bilateral cortical and subcortical activation in both the stuttering and the nonstuttering speakers. Between-group comparisons showed a proportionally greater left hemisphere activation in the nonstuttering speakers, and a proportionally greater right hemisphere activation in the stuttering individuals. The results of the present study provide qualified support for the hypothesis that stuttering adults show atypical lateralization of language processes.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Acoustic duration changes associated with two types of treatment for children who stutter.

The purpose of this study was (a) to examine in young children the effects of Speech Motor Training (SMT) on selected temporal acoustic durations considered to be related to speech motor programming, (b) to compare the speech motor effects of that treatment with those of a treatment of childhood stuttering that did not directly incorporate speech motor control training (Extended Length of Utterance [ELU]), and (c) to examine the relation of acoustic duration changes to reduction of stuttering. Twelve children who stutter were recorded while repeating syllable sets /see text/ and /see text/ before and after SMT (n = 6) or ELU treatment (n = 6). Children who did not stutter served as matched reference groups. The syllables beginning with /p/ and /t/ were used as tokens for the acoustic measurement. Five measures served as indicators of temporal aspects of speech motor performance: vowel duration, stop gap duration, voice onset time, stop gap/vowel duration ratio, and total token duration. Results indicated that following SMT there was a significant increase in vowel duration and some reduction in stop gap duration that resulted in significantly reduced stop gap/vowel duration ratios. These acoustic effects were consistent across most participants. The ELU treatment reduced stuttering more than the SMT, but was not accompanied by significant effects on the selected temporal acoustic measures. These findings are compared with previous findings of increased vowel durations associated with fluency enhancement and stuttering treatment. We speculate that the increased vowel durations allow more time for speech motor planning and that stuttering is reduced moderately as a by-product of longer vowel durations. The mechanism(s) by which ELU treatment reduces stuttering did not appear to be captured by the dependent variables measured in this study.

Child↗

PubMed2004

Olanzapine- and clozapine-induced stuttering. A case series.

Drug-induced stuttering has been described in association with several drugs, in particular antidepressants and low-potency neuroleptics. Here we describe a case series of stuttering induced by the atypical neuroleptics olanzapine and clozapine. Patients receiving neuroleptic treatment were carefully screened for stuttering as a possible side effect. We have studied all patients in the outpatient department (800 per year) as well as most inpatients (1300 per year) within 3 years. Seven cases of drug-induced stuttering were observed. Six patients suffered from stuttering in association with olanzapine treatment, and one received clozapine. Stuttering arose on average 2-21 days after initiation of treatment and ceased 2-5 days after discontinuation. Most patients suffered from additional diseases, such as brain pathology due to cortical atrophy or celiac disease, or received concomitant medication (i.e. intrathecal morphine pump). Our case series suggests that the atypical neuroleptic olanzapine can induce stuttering in the absence of a history of stuttering without accompanying akathisia or general decline of function. It appears that preexisting brain pathology or concomitant anti-depressant medication might predispose some patients to this side effect.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

The end-product of behavioural stuttering therapy: three decades of denaturing the disorder.

ISSUE: The state of stuttering therapy continues to be of great concern in the field of speech-language pathology. Despite decades of research and clinical practical, stuttering is still treated by ineffective and inefficient means. PROPOSAL: Our research group suggests that therapy failures stem from the use behavioural approaches; procedures that have resulted in only temporary and unnatural alleviation from the symptomatology by masking the disorder. These procedures 'denature' the disorder and induce pseudofluency rather than true fluency. It is proposed that in order to truly provide relief to those who stutter, professionals need to view both the overt and covert components of the disorder from the standpoint of attaining true fluency. Only then can the true syndrome-like nature of stuttering be addressed. In order to achieve true fluency the use of stuttering inhibitors must be incorporated such as choral speech and its permutations to derive natural sounding, stable and effortless speech in those who stutter. CONCLUSION: By doing so, the goal is to not only derive stable and natural-sounding speech, but also to help remove such factors as the expectancy, anticipation and the fear of stuttering that generally continue to shackle most people who stutter following behavioural therapy.

Behavior Therapy↗