The effect of maternal rate reduction on the stuttering, speech rates and linguistic productions of children who stutter: Evidence from individual dyads

Abstract

The clinical literature in childhood stuttering contains numerous suggestions for parents to use both a reduced speech rate and longer turn-switching pauses when talking with their children who stutter. To date, empirical support for these recommendations has been sparse. In addition, the few studies which have examined the effects of maternal speech rate reduction on the speech and language of stuttering and non-stuttering children have yielded inconsistent results. These equivocal findings are most likely related to the differences among investigations, in both subject characteristics and study design. In this paper we present the results from a preliminary study of maternal speech rate reduction, using young children who stutter and their mothers. Our purpose was to reveal individual patterns of response to a slowed maternal speech rate, through observation of specific speech and language behaviours and behaviour changes in separate dyads. Findings suggest that the relationship between children's stutt...