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Performance on phonological and grammatical awareness metalinguistic tasks by children who stutter and their fluent peers.

UNLABELLED: This study was undertaken to examine the performance of 23 children who stutter (CWS) and 23 children who do not stutter (CWNS) on three metalinguistic tasks. These included two phonological awareness assessment procedures (The Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test (LAC) and a Phoneme Reversal Task) and one modified Grammar Judgments Task where syntactic and semantic appropriateness of sentences was evaluated. Differences between groups were significant for the grammar judgment task, where CWNS outperformed CWS in judging syntactically and semantically anomalous sentences. Group differences were not significant for the phonological awareness tasks. The results underscore the importance of examining metalinguistic abilities of CWS through a variety of tasks. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to: (1) recognize the relevance of examining metalinguistic abilities within the context of research on language-stuttering dynamics; and (2) identify measures of metalinguistic abilities that can be used to compare the performances of CWS and CWNS.

Case-Control Studies↗

Childhood stuttering and dissociations across linguistic domains.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the possible presence of dissociations in the speech and language skills of young children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS) using a correlation-based statistical procedure [Bates, E., Appelbaum, M., Salcedo, J., Saygin, A. P., & Pizzamiglio, L. (2003). Quantifying dissociations in neuropsychological research. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 25, 1128-1153]. Participants were 45 preschool CWS and 45 CWNS between the ages of 3;0 and 5;11 (years;months), with the two groups matched by age, gender, race, and parental socioeconomic status. Children participated in a parent-child interaction for the purpose of disfluency analysis and responded to four standardized speech-language tests for subsequent analyses as main dependent variables. Findings indicated that CWS were over three times more likely than CWNS to exhibit dissociations across speech-language domains, with 44 cases of dissociation for CWS and 14 for CWNS across 10 possible comparisons. Results suggest that there may be a subgroup of CWS who exhibit dissociations across speech-language domains, which may result in a greater susceptibility to breakdowns in speech fluency. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will be able to: (1) summarize findings from previous studies examining differences in speech and language performance between children who do and do not stutter; (2) describe what is meant by "dissociations" in the speech and language skills of young children who do and do not stutter; and (3) discuss three hypotheses that could account for the present findings that suggest CWS, more often than CWNS, exhibit dissociations in their speech-language system.

Child↗

Phonological encoding in the silent speech of persons who stutter.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of phonological encoding in the silent speech of persons who stutter (PWS) and persons who do not stutter (PNS). Participants were 10 PWS (M=30.4 years, S.D.=7.8), matched in age, gender, and handedness with 11 PNS (M=30.1 years, S.D.=7.8). Each participant performed five tasks: a familiarization task, an overt picture naming task, a task of self-monitoring target phonemes during concurrent silent picture naming, a task of monitoring target pure tones in aurally presented tonal sequences, and a simple motor task requiring finger button clicks in response to an auditory tone. Results indicated that PWS were significantly slower in phoneme monitoring compared to PNS. No significant between-group differences were present for response speed during the auditory monitoring, picture naming or simple motor tasks, nor did the two groups differ for percent errors in any of the experimental tasks. The findings were interpreted to suggest a specific deficiency at the level of phonological monitoring, rather than a general monitoring, reaction time or auditory monitoring deficit in PWS. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: As a result of this activity, the participant should: (1) identify and assess the literature on phonological encoding skills in PWS, (2) enumerate and evaluate some major psycholinguistic theories of stuttering, and (3) describe the mechanism by which defective phonological encoding can disrupt fluent speech production.

Adolescent↗

Nonword repetition skills in young children who do and do not stutter.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to assess the nonword repetition skills of 24 children who do (CWS; n = 12) and do not stutter (CWNS; n = 12) between the ages of 3;0 and 5;2. Findings revealed that CWS produced significantly fewer correct two- and three-syllable nonword repetitions and made significantly more phoneme errors on three-syllable nonwords relative to CWNS. In addition, there was a significant relationship between performance on a test of expressive phonology and nonword repetition for CWS, but not CWNS. Findings further revealed no significant fluctuation in fluency as nonwords increased in length. Taken together, findings lend support to previous work, suggesting that nonword repetition skills differ for CWS compared with CWNS, and that these findings cannot be attributed to (a) weak language performance on the part of CWS, or (b) the occurrence of stuttering in the course of nonword production. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: After reading this article, the learner will be able to: (a) describe one common means of assessing phonological working memory in children; (b) summarize the performance differences of children who stutter compared to peers on a nonword repetition task; (c) compare the results of the present study with previous work in this area.

Case-Control Studies↗

Effects of perceptual and conceptual similarity in lexical priming of young children who stutter: preliminary findings.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of conceptual and perceptual properties of words on the speed and accuracy of lexical retrieval of children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS) during a picture-naming task. Participants consisted of 13 3-5-year-old CWS and the same number of CWNS. All participants had speech, language, and hearing development within normal limits, with the exception of stuttering for CWS. Both talker groups participated in a picture-naming task where they named, one at a time, computer-presented, black-on-white drawings of common age-appropriate objects. These pictures were named during four auditory priming conditions: (a) a neutral prime consisting of a tone, (b) a word prime physically related to the target word, (c) a word prime functionally related to the target word, and (d) a word prime categorically related to the target word. Speech reaction time (SRT) was measured from the offset of presentation of the picture target to the onset of participant's verbal speech response. Results indicated that CWS were slower than CWNS across priming conditions (i.e., neutral, physical, function, category) and that the speed of lexical retrieval of CWS was more influenced by functional than perceptual aspects of target pictures named. Findings were taken to suggest that CWS tend to organize lexical information functionally more so than physically and that this tendency may relate to difficulties establishing normally fluent speech and language. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to (1) communicate the relevance of examining lexical retrieval in relation to childhood stuttering and (2) describe the method of measuring speech reaction times of accurate and fluent responses during a picture-naming task as a means of assessing lexical retrieval skills.

Analysis of Variance↗

Anomalous sensorimotor integration in adults who stutter: a tendon vibration study.

Anomalies in oral movement control have been identified in stuttering, which suggest this speech disorder involves a sensorimotor deficit. To test whether adults who stutter (AWS) display aberrant proprioceptive function, masseter tendon vibration was used to manipulate jaw proprioception as AWS and normal speakers performed a jaw-opening task. A movement amplitude reduction in the vibration condition was observed in both groups indicating the movements of AWS and controls were influenced in a similar manner by altering masseter proprioception. However, the undershoot magnitude was reduced in AWS relative to the control participants indicating a subtle difference in proprioceptive integration among the stuttering participants. Our interpretation is that AWS use proprioceptive information less efficiently than normal speakers, which could interfere with sensorimotor integration during speech production.

Adult↗

Severe stuttering and motor tics responsive to cocaine.

Developmental stuttering and tics share many clinical and therapeutical aspects. Dopaminergic neurotransmission seems to be involved in the pathophysiology of both, tics and stuttering. We report on a patient with severe stuttering and mild facial tics which were dramatically improved by cocaine, challenging previous reports.

Adult↗

Dismantling simplified regulated breathing: a case of a bilingual stutterer.

In this case study of a 28-year-old bilingual male, the Simplified Regulated Breathing treatment for stuttering was further dismantled. Implementing noncontingent diaphragmatic breathing in one treatment session, stuttering was reduced in both English (his second language) and Russian (his native language), while his words per minute increased. In addition, the implementation of treatment resulted in a decrease in secondary struggle behaviors associated with stuttering. The results were seen as socially valid and the treatment was seen as acceptable to the participant. Implications of this case study are presented.

Adult↗

Stuttering repetitions in aphasic and nonaphasic brain damaged adults.

Stuttering repetitions were analyzed by frequency of occurrence in aphasic and nonaphasic brain damaged adults. Aphasics used significantly more stuttering repetitions than did nonaphasics. The frequency distribution of stuttering repetitions among aphasic subgroups indicated a relationship with sound problems in anterior and posterior groups.

Adult↗

Hemispheric lateralization for speech perception in stutterers.

Sixteen adult, right-handed, moderate-to-severe atutterers (12 males, 4 females) and 20 nonstuttering controls (10 males, 10 females) were given a dichotic nonsense-syllable test to determine hemispheric lateralization for speech. Both male and female stutterers evidenced right-ear advantages in syllable identification similar in magnitude to those found for normals. These data confirm other reports of no difference in cerebral speech lateralization for stutterers and nonstutterers and, therefore, lend no support to theories that relate stuttering to abnormalities in cerebral lateralization. Acknowledgments. This study was conducted while the authors were at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. The assistance of Dr. R. L. Webster, the staff of the Institute for Behavioral Research, and the Departments of Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Connecticut is gratefully acknowledged.

Auditory Perception↗

Handedness distributions among adults who stutter.

Handedness testing carried out in the course of clinical treatment and research with stutterers has provided no support for an association between left-handedness and stuttering. Stutterers had neither a greater incidence of left-handedness than is usually reported for the general population, nor demonstrated less consistency than fluent speakers in hand preference.

Female↗

A further analysis of narrative skills of children who stutter.

This study tested for differences between children who stutter (CWS) and children with normally developing communication skills (CNC) on measures of narrative complexity and cohesion use in two narrative tasks. In addition, differences in stuttering frequency produced by CWS across tasks were measured. One story retelling and one story generation were elicited from eight CWS and eight age- and gender-matched CNC peers. Results revealed no significant differences between CWS and CNC for the measures of narrative complexity or cohesion use. However, significant differences were noted in stuttering frequency. Additionally, significant differences were found between the tasks for number of words, t-units, and episodes produced, as well as referents, conjunctions, and complete cohesive ties. Findings confirm that narrative abilities of CWS are similar to those of CNC, and that a retelling task produces longer and more elaborate narrative samples than does story generation. Directions for future research are discussed.

Child↗

Prognostic indicators for stuttering: the value of computer-based speech analysis.

There are currently no known acoustic parameters by which stuttering children can be appraised in order to predict the further course of their speech disfluency. The present study investigates the usefulness of a computer-based speech analysis of fluent utterances. Correlations between acoustic variables, severity, and course of stuttering were sought in a prospective longitudinal study. This analyzed 57 preschool children at 6-month intervals over a period of 4.6 years. The acoustic analyses yielded no clearly distinguishing characteristics. There was, however, one subgroup consisting of children who were still disfluent at study end which showed more variable values at various measurement points for different parameters. Speech control seems to be different in children exhibiting chronic stuttering.

Child, Preschool↗

Thalamic stuttering: a distinct clinical entity?

A 38-year-old right-handed male with no history of speech or language problems presented with neurogenic stuttering following an ischaemic lesion of the left thalamus. He stuttered severely in propositional speech (conversation, monologue, confrontation naming, and word retrieval) but only slightly in non-propositional speech (automatic speech, sound, word and sentence repetition, and reading aloud). It is suggested that thalamic stuttering may constitute a distinct clinical entity.

Brain↗

Early stuttering as a type of language difficulty.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to describe (1) the characteristics of incipient stuttering, (2) how it differs from stuttering in older children, and (3) the relationship of such early stuttering to developing language skills.

Child↗

Evidence-based treatment of stuttering: V. The art of clinical practice and the future of clinical research.

UNLABELLED: This epilogue summarizes and expands on some of the many points raised in Parts I through IV, emphasizing that evidence-based practice is not in conflict with the "art" of clinical practice but may actually be synonymous. An evidence-based practice framework is also used to suggest some future directions for clinical research in stuttering. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to (1) describe the similarities between evidence-based practice and the art of clinical practice, (2) explain how evidence-based practice provides a structure for future stuttering research, and (3) evaluate the importance of an evidence-based approach to stuttering treatment.

Biomedical Research↗

Inducement of fluent speech in persons who stutter via visual choral speech.

A novel phenomenon of fluency enhancement via visual gestures of speech in the absence of traditional auditory feedback is reported herein. The effect on visual choral speech on stuttering frequency was investigated. Ten participants who stuttered recited memorized text aloud under two conditions. In a visual choral speech (VCS) condition participants were instructed to focus their gaze on the face, lips and jaw of a research assistant who 'silently mouthed' the text in unison. In a control condition, participants recited memorized text to the research assistant who sat motionless. A statistically significant (P=0.0025) reduction of approximately 80% in stuttering frequency was observed in the VCS condition. As visual linguistic cues are sufficient to activate the auditory cortex, one may speculate that VCS induces fluency in a similar yet undetermined manner as altered auditory feedback does.

Adult↗

Functional neuroimaging of cerebellar activation during single word reading and verb generation in stuttering and nonstuttering adults.

Articulatory discoordinations typically observed in fluent and disfluent speech of stuttering adults suggest an underlying deficiency in the precise timing needed for speech production. Positron emission tomography scans of stuttering adults showed generally higher cerebellar activations pre-treatment compared to nonstuttering control subjects. Intensive fluency treatment resulted in increased cerebellar activation during reading immediately post-treatment and a decrease to near normal levels at the 1 year follow scan. In contrast, verb generation resulted in a gradual but consistent decrease over the three scans. The results suggest that automaticity in motor and cognitive processes during speech production may need to be considered as an important factor in future investigations of stuttering.

Adult↗