Frequency Of Disfluencies Research Articles

Longitudinal Study on the Pragmatic Language Skills during Play Activities in Preschool Children Who Stutter and Who do not Stutter

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether there are any differences in pragmatic language skills between preschool children who stutter (hereafter, CWS) and those who do not stutter (hereafter, CWNS) in natural play interactions with their parents. Additionally, the study sought to examine the relationship between pragmatic language skills and children’s stuttering. Methods: 7 CWNS and 7 CWS aged 2-5 years, and their parents participated in the study. In a total of three times at 12-month intervals, their interactions during play activities were collected to analyze abnormal disfluency (AD), normal disfluency (ND) frequency, and pragmatic language skills (initiation utterance of child, initiation of utterance of mother and utterance turn-taking). Between-group comparisons of variables were made by collection period (initial evaluation, 12 months later, 24 months later). Results: First, the AD frequency of the CWS group was statistically significantly higher than that of the CWNS group at the initial evaluation and at 12 months, and there was no significant difference between the two groups at 24 months. Second, the frequency of initiation of utterance in CWNS group was significantly higher than that of the CWS group in the initial evaluation. At 12 months and 24 months, children with stutter had a similar degree of initiation of utterance as that of typical children. Third, there was no significant difference between the CWS and CWNS group in utterance turn-taking. The difference in the frequency of utterances and turn-taking between CWS and CWNS group tended to increase over time. Conclusion: These findings confirmed that stuttering in children is influenced by their pragmatic language skills. This suggests the need for parent-child interaction and parental education programs that enhance children’s pragmatic language skills, which may positively impact fluency in CWS.

A preliminary analysis of computer‐based asynchronous awareness training for public speaking disfluencies

AbstractSimple habit reversal training is effective at reducing public speaking disfluencies; however, the time and resources necessary to implement this intervention may reduce practicality for widespread adoption. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of asynchronous awareness training. Four participants completed a computer‐based training consisting of response description and practice detecting recorded disfluencies prior to taking a quiz in which they scored the frequency of disfluencies in a recorded speech. Relative to baseline, all participants' rates of disfluencies decreased following training. In addition, acceptability ratings were high and all participants indicated greater willingness to participate in asynchronous training than in‐person training.

Could linguistic and cognitive factors, degree of autistic traits and sex predict speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls?

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the effect of linguistic complexity and individual background variables (i.e. linguistic and cognitive abilities, degree of autistic traits, and sex) on speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls. Thirty-two 19- to 33-year-old autistic adults and 35 controls participated in this study. The frequency of disfluencies and stuttering severity were evaluated based on a narrative speech task. Linguistic complexity was assessed by evaluating the syntactic structures of the narratives. Cognitive and linguistic abilities were assessed using the General Ability Index (GAI), Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) and Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV. Autistic traits were measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Multiple-linear regression analyses (syntactic complexity, GAI, AQ, sex, and group status as predictors) showed that (a) syntactic complexity predicted total and stuttering-like disfluencies and stuttering severity, (b) GAI predicted typical disfluencies, and (c) sex predicted total, typical, and stuttering-like disfluencies. Additional correlation analyses revealed negative association between PRI and disfluencies in the control group but not in the autistic group. No connection was found between AQ and disfluencies. It seems that while some connections between disfluencies and individual cognitive features were found, some of the possible contributing factors for greater speech disfluency might differ between autistic and typical speakers.

Associations between social anxiety, physiological reactivity, and speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to examine possible associations of social anxiety (SA) and speaking-related physiological reactivity with the frequencies of a) total disfluencies, b) typical disfluencies, and c) stuttering-like disfluencies, as well as d) stuttering-severity in autistic young adults and controls. MethodsThirty-two autistic young adults and 35 controls participated in this study. Participants were presented with video clips (viewing condition) and were then asked to talk about the videos (narrating condition). SA was measured by the self-report Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI). Speaking-related physiological reactivity was measured by the electrodermal activity (EDA), an index of emotional arousal. The speech samples from the narrating condition were analyzed for type and frequency of speech disfluencies and used for determining the stuttering severity. SA and speaking-related physiological reactivity were compared between the groups. Correlation between SA, physiological reactivity, disfluency frequencies, and stuttering severity were tested separately for both groups. ResultsNo between-group differences were found in the overall SA, yet differences were found in SPAI subscales of social interaction, group interaction, and avoidance, as well as in agoraphobia. Both groups had higher physiological arousal in narrating condition in comparison to the video viewing condition, yet there was no between-group difference in the reactivity. No associations were found between SPAI measures, physiological reactivity, disfluency frequencies, and stuttering severity in the autistic group. In the control group, a negative association was found between physiological reactivity and total and typical disfluency frequencies. ConclusionsSA or speaking-related physiological reactivity were not associated with disfluency frequencies or stuttering severity in autistic persons. Negative association between physiological reactivity and disfluency frequencies found in the control group may indicate that the physiological arousal may impact the speech production process by reducing the overt disfluencies.

Linguistic Disfluencies in Korean-English Bilingual Children in the Narrative Generation and Retell Task

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency and types of linguistic disfluencies that are produced by typically developing bilingual Korean-English (KE) speaking children and to investigate whether their disfluent speech is mediated by language produced and/or language exposure duration.Methods: Nineteen bilingual KE speaking children (12 boys, 7 girls) and twenty-one monolingual Korean speaking children (8 boys, 13 girls) aged 6-9 participated in this study. Narratives were elicited using story generation and retell tasks in each language. The frequency and types of linguistic disfluencies (fillers, repetitions, revisions, and pauses) were analyzed.Results: The bilingual group showed a significantly higher rate of total disfluency, fillers, and repetitions than the monolingual group. There was no significant difference in the rates of disfluency between narrative task types. In terms of the language produced, the bilingual group produced more revisions and more disfluencies in Korean than in English during the story generation task. In the retell task, there was a significant difference in the total disfluency rate, fillers, and revisions depending on the language the child was speaking. A significant negative correlation between English language exposure duration and the total disfluency rate was found.Conclusion: Bilingual KE speaking children showed higher disfluency rates than monolingual peers in story generation and retell tasks. Results showed that the disfluency can be influenced by the grammatical structure of the language being spoken and the levels of language experience. Results suggest the exposure duration to second language, language proficiency, and morphological distinctions between two languages need to be considered for assessment and intervention.

Manifestation of speech disfluencies in preschool Cantonese-English speaking bilingual children

ABSTRACT Stuttering is characterised by disruptions in speech fluency that normally emerges between the ages of 2 to 5 when children start to formulate sentences. Current stuttering identification in children is largely based on speech disfluency criteria (>3% stuttering-like disfluencies, SLDs) developed for monolingual English-speaking children. Research in a Western language context shows that application of the criteria for monolingual to bilingual children may result in false positive diagnosis of stuttering. The applicability of these criteria to children speaking languages typologically distinct from English remains unclear. This preliminary study focused on bilingual Cantonese-English-speaking children, aiming to explore the manifestations of the speech disfluencies in Cantonese (a syllable-timed language) and English (a stress-timed language) while accounting for language dominance/proficiency and speaking task. Nineteen typically fluent Cantonese-English bilingual preschoolers were recruited for this study and their speech samples were collected across different speaking tasks (i.e. conversation and narration), and languages (i.e. Cantonese and English). The types and frequency of speech disfluencies were compared across both languages and the speaking tasks. The results showed that between 21–68% of children showed higher than 3% SLDs across different languages and speaking tasks. Linear mixed-effect analysis revealed that the prevalence of SLDs is higher in English (less dominant language) than Cantonese (more dominant language), and the prevalence is also higher in narration than conversation. These findings suggest the need for tailored stuttering identification criteria for bilingual children speaking diverse languages and emphasise the importance of considering language dominance/proficiency and speaking task when assessing stuttering in bilingual populations.

A case study of bilingual neurogenic stuttering: Measures of fluency, emotion, and articulation rate

IntroductionThis study explores the features of bilingual neurogenic stuttering and the potential connection between emotion and articulation rate on speech disfluencies. MethodThe participant is a 59-year old, Yiddish-English bilingual male with a moderate non-fluent aphasia. Thirty-two narratives (16 in each language), elicited using cue words, were analyzed for frequency of disfluency, type of disfluency (stuttering vs. non-stuttering-like), word-type (content vs. function), within-word location of disfluency, and occurrence of accessory behaviors. Additionally, the percentage and type of emotion (positive vs. negative) expressed, and articulation rate (fluent syllables spoken/duration of fluent utterances) was assessed. ResultsDisfluency occurred in each language with approximately equal frequency. The most common stuttering-like disfluencies were repetitions (monosyllabic, sound, and syllable) and prolongations. The most common non-stuttering-like disfluencies were self-correction/revisions, phrase and multisyllabic word repetitions, and pauses (silent and filled). In both languages, disfluencies occurred on both content and function words, but primarily content words, and in any position of the word, although primarily initial position. No accessory behaviors were noted. There was a similar amount of emotion words used in each language although the first acquired language, L1/Yiddish, had an overall more positive tone, and his second acquired language, L2/English, had a more negative tone. Additionally, there was a negative relationship between emotion and the number of disfluencies in L1/Yiddish, and a positive relationship in L2/English. A faster articulation rate was found in his native and more proficient language, Yiddish, than English. There was a negative relationship between articulation rate and the number of disfluencies in L1/Yiddish, and a positive relationship in L2/English. ConclusionsCross-linguistics differences for emotion and articulation rate demonstrates that these aspects impact on fluency and contributes to the disfluencies in each language. Clinical implications of the study demonstrates the importance of assessment of bilingual (i.e., proficiency and dominance) and fluency features of each language in the diagnostic process and the significance of considering emotional processes and articulation rate as part of a comprehensive intervention plan for acquired stuttering.

Speech disfluencies in bilingual Greek-English young adults

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency and types of disfluencies in Greek-English bilingual adults across naturalistic speech samples and compare frequency and types of disfluencies between the participants’ L1 and L2. MethodsParticipants in the study included 26 Greek-English bilingual young adults. All participants were sequential bilinguals, whose first language was Greek and second language was English. Two speech samples were collected in each language, a conversational and a narrative sample, which were subsequently analyzed for the frequency and types of disfluencies. ResultsResults indicated that participants produced more typical disfluencies in English compared to Greek across speaking samples. The most frequent types of disfluencies were filled pauses and vowel prolongations (without tension or struggle) across speaking samples and languages. ConclusionOur results revealed differences in the types and frequencies of disfluencies produced in participants’ native compared to their second language. Results add to the growing body of literature addressing the manifestation of speech disfluencies in bilingual speakers.

Reduced duration of stuttering-like disfluencies and consistent anticipatory slowing during an adaptation task.

The adaptation effect in stuttering, traditionally described as the reduction of stuttering moments over repeated readings, provides a context to investigate fluency facilitation as well as a relatively controlled means of comparing fluent speech in the immediate vicinity of words that were stuttered versus fluently produced. Acoustic studies have documented decreased duration of fluent speech during adaptation but rarely address changes in disfluencies or the speech preceding or following the disfluencies. This study addresses this gap in the research by documenting frequency and duration changes in both fluent and stuttered syllables. Fifteen people who stutter read passages aloud five times in succession. Frequency and duration of fluent syllables, pauses, stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) and other disfluencies (ODs) were compared across the five readings. In addition, durations for syllables before and after pauses and SLDs were compared to determine if there were anticipation or carryover effects of SLDs on surrounding syllables. Durations measured for more than 22000 fluent syllables, 1531 pauses, 128 ODs and 1752 SLDs. For most of the 15 participants, significant decreases in both frequency and duration of SLDs over the five readings were observed. In addition, lengthening of fluent syllables immediately preceding the disfluent syllables was observed: this pre-SLD lengthening did not change over the five readings. Decreased duration of SLDs across readings supports the motor practice hypothesis, which assumes that successive reading of the same text increases the efficiency of the speech motor plans resulting in less stuttering and decreased durations of the stuttering that persists. Pre-SLD lengthening merits further study, because it informs our knowledge of the time course of stuttered events and may be associated with conscious or unconscious anticipation of upcoming SLDs that does not decrease with motor practice. What is already known on this subject The frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) can be reduced using a variety of fluency-enhancing strategies. For example, the adaptation effect, in which a reduction of stuttered events occurs over repeated readings of the same material, has been widely studied. Previous studies have shown that durations of fluent syllables decrease during adaptation, supporting the hypothesis that repeated practice of the motor plan leads to increased fluency. However, temporal changes in disfluent syllables and syllables preceding and following SLDs have rarely been studied, so our understanding of the effect of motor practice on stuttering reduction is incomplete. What this study adds This study has two significant findings. First, stuttered disfluencies that persisted after the initial reading of the adaptation task tended to become shorter in duration. Fluently produced syllables and those that were stuttered, both of which are speech events related to motor control of articulators, were affected in a similar manner by the motor practice associated with adaptation. Second, lengthening of fluent syllables immediately preceding stuttered syllables was observed. This pre-stuttering lengthening, however, did not decrease in duration over the five readings: the mechanism that drives this anticipatory behaviour is not affected by repeated practice. What are the clinical implications of this work? People who stutter have neural differences that lead to speech motor planning and/or execution that is less efficient than that of typical speakers. The finding that stuttering is reduced and that persisting SLDs become shorter in duration over repeated readings provides evidence that motor practice can influence the manifestation of stuttering by temporarily making those specific motor plans more efficient. This may inform treatments for stuttering. The observation that fluent syllables immediately before SLDs were lengthened, and that this lengthening was not influenced by repeated practice, extends our understanding of the time course of stuttering events and may be useful in understanding anticipation and listener reactions to stuttering.

Pausing and fluency in speech of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

ABSTRACT Multiple Sclerosis (MS) causes a variety of symptoms in speech production, such as more frequent pauses and an increase in the duration of pauses in the speech. However, there is almost no data on whether the disease affects speech fluency in other ways, such as changes in the frequency of disfluencies in speech. The main question of this study is the following: if we examine speech fluency in speech tasks requiring different cognitive load, will there be a difference between patients and controls? Twenty people with relapsing-remitting MS (3 men and 17 women) and 20 age- and education-matched control speakers (4 men and 16 women) participated in the study. Speech samples were recorded with each participant in three speech tasks: 1) spontaneous narratives about their own lives, 2) narratives about their previous day, and 3) narrative recalls based on a heard text. In the speech samples, pauses and disfluencies were annotated and the duration of pauses was measured. Then, the frequency of pauses and disfluencies were calculated and the types of disfluencies were examined. The results show that there are differences in the frequency and duration of pauses between people with MS and controls. However, there were no significant differences in the frequency of disfluencies between the groups. The same types of disfluencies occurred in the same frequency in both groups. The results help to better understand the speech production processes in MS.

A cross-sectional investigation of disfluencies in typically developing Spanish-English bilingual children

PurposeThis study examined the language skills and the type and frequency of disfluencies in the spoken narrative production of typically developing Spanish-English bilingual children. MethodA cross-sectional sample of 106 bilingual children (50 boys; 56 girls) enrolled in kindergarten through Grade 4, produced a total of 212 narrative retell language samples in English and Spanish. A specialized fluency coding system was implemented to index the percentage of total (%TD) and stuttering-like disfluencies (%SLD) in each language. Large-scale reference databases were used to classify children’s dual language proficiency profiles (balanced, English dominant, Spanish dominant) based on language sample analysis measures of morphosyntax and lexical diversity. ResultsThe bilingual Spanish-English children in this study did not demonstrate significant cross-linguistic differences for mean %TD or %SLD. However, the mean %TD and %SLD in both languages exceeded the risk threshold based on monolingual English-speaking norms. English dominant bilingual children demonstrated significantly lower %TD in English than Spanish. Spanish dominant children demonstrated significantly lower %SLD in Spanish than English. ConclusionsThis study included the largest sample size of bilingual Spanish-English children investigated to date from a fluency perspective. The frequency of disfluencies was found to be variable across participants and change dynamically as a function of grade and dual language proficiency profiles, indicating the need for studies that employ larger sample sizes and longitudinal designs.

Exploratory Examination of Speech Disfluencies in Spoken Narrative Samples of School-Age Bidialectal Children

This study examined the relationship between school-age children's speech disfluencies and the use of and variation of Mainstream American English (MAE) and African American English (AAE). Given that bilingual children may present with notably more speech disfluencies than monolingual children, it was hypothesized that bidialectal speaking children (i.e., those that use both MAE and AAE) may exhibit higher speech disfluencies, as compared to children who speak mainly MAE and those who mainly speak AAE. It was also hypothesized that bidialectal speaking children would exhibit a greater variety of speech disfluency types when compared to the other two dialect groups (i.e., MAE and AAE). School-age children (n = 61) with typical development and fluency were classified into three dialect groups: MAE speakers (n = 21), bidialectal MAE-AAE speakers (n = 11), and AAE speakers (n = 29). Tell-retell narrative samples were elicited from each participant using a wordless picture book. Speech disfluencies exhibited during these narrative samples were examined for frequency of stuttering-like and nonstuttering-like speech disfluencies and type of speech disfluency. Findings indicated that bidialectal speaking children do not present with a higher frequency of speech disfluencies when compared to children who speak MAE and children who speak AAE. Additionally, there were no differences in the types of speech disfluencies exhibited by the different dialect groups. Unexpected findings of this study nullify both hypotheses and suggest that bidialectalism, in comparison to bilingualism, has less of an impact on speech fluency. Findings provide evidence that bidialectal speaking children are not at an increased risk for a misdiagnosis of stuttering. Clinically, these preliminary findings provide some scientific validity and specification to the appropriateness of using already established diagnostic criteria commonly used for stuttering with dialect speakers.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Speech Disfluencies in Autistic Young Adults and Control Young Adults: Group Differences in Typical, Stuttering-Like, and Atypical Disfluencies.

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls by using a wide-range disfluency classification of typical disfluencies (TD; i.e., filled pauses, revisions, abandoned utterances, and multisyllable word and phrase repetitions), stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD; i.e., sound and syllable repetitions, monosyllable word repetitions, prolongations, blocks, and broken words), and atypical disfluencies (AD; i.e., word-final prolongations and repetitions and atypical insertions). Thirty-two autistic young adults and 35 controls completed a narrative telling task based on socially complex events. Frequencies of total disfluencies, TD, SLD, AD and stuttering severity were compared between groups. The overall frequency of disfluencies was significantly higher in the autistic group and significant between-group differences were found for all disfluency categories. The autistic group produced significantly more revisions, filled pauses, and abandoned utterances, and each subtype of SLD and AD than the control group. In total, approximately every fourth autistic participants scored at least a very mild severity of stuttering, and every fifth produced more than three SLD per 100 syllables. Disfluent speech can be challenging for effective communication. This study revealed that the speech of autistic young adults was highly more disfluent than that of the controls. The findings provide information on speech disfluency characteristics in autistic young adults and highlight the importance of evaluating speech disfluency with a wide-range disfluency classification in autistic persons in order to understand their role in overall communication. The results of this study offer tools for SLPs to evaluate and understand the nature of disfluencies in autistic persons.

Speech rate and fluency in young-onset Parkinson’s disease: A longitudinal case study from early to post brain surgery stage

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to analyse the speech rate, pausing and fluency of a patient with young-onset Parkinson’s Disease in different stages of the disease. Speech samples of the patient were recorded in the early stages of the disease until after the brain surgery. The recordings were compared to the speech of healthy control speakers. Speech rate, articulation rate, pausing and the frequency of disfluencies were analysed. Results show that all parameters are influenced by the severity of the disease, but articulation rate is the most affected.

Stuttering Behavior in a National Age Cohort of Norwegian First-Graders With Down Syndrome.

The aims of this study were to investigate the occurrence of stuttering behavior across time and to evaluate the relationship between stuttering behavior and language ability in children with Down syndrome. A national age cohort of Norwegian first graders with Down syndrome (N = 75) participated in the study. Speech samples from a story-retelling task and a picture book dialogue as well as standardized measures of vocabulary, grammar, and nonverbal mental ability were collected at two time points approximately 5 months apart. Stuttering behavior was evaluated through counting stuttering-like disfluencies and stuttering severity ratings. The relationship between stuttering behavior and language ability was investigated through hierarchical regression analysis. The participants had stuttering severity ratings ranging from no stuttering behavior to severe and displayed all types of stuttering-like disfluencies. There were significant relationships between stuttering behavior and language ability at the first time point, whereas the relationships were not significant at the second time point. The stuttering severity ratings were significantly predicted by language ability across time, whereas the frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies was not. The occurrence of stuttering behavior was high across the measures and time points; however, the relationship between stuttering behavior and language ability varied across these variables. Thus, the nature of the relationship does not seem to follow a strict pattern that can be generalized to all children across time.

Clustering of Disfluencies in Informal Conversations of People With Cluttering

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the characteristics of disfluency clusters in cluttering in conversation depending on the relationship of communication partners. Method: Ten-minute speech samples of conversations between people with cluttering (PWC) and people who do not clutter (PWNC) were analyzed for disfluencies. For each sample taken, participants were paired with either friends or unknown partners. PWC were also paired with PWNC and with each other. The influence of the different conversational partners on the type and frequency of disfluency was examined. Results: In all conversation samples, PWC exhibited 2.4 times more complex disfluencies than PWNC. In addition, the frequency of complex disfluencies was influenced by the independent variables of PWC/PWNC and relationship of conversational partner. More complex disfluencies were produced by PWC in the conversations with a PWNC friend and with an unknown PWC as compared to conversations with an unknown PWNC and a PWC friend. Conclusions: Results confirm clinical observations that cluttering disfluencies may increase with more familiar conversational partners. However, atypical speech may also increase severity of symptoms. Findings also provide objective information about cluttering in relatively naturalistic situations.

노인의 문장회상발화에서 나타난 언어적 비유창성 분석

In this study we investigated the discourse production ability of older adults by using a sentence recall task in order to examine the link between the linguistic disfluencies and cognitive functioning, and the role of linguistic disfluencies in semantic aspect of sentence recall. Fifty-six older adults (ages 63-87) performed the sentence recall task in which they read short sentences and recalled the contents aloud. Fluency and disfluency in discourse production were measured by the propositional recall as well as the frequency and types of disfluencies. The results were as follows. First, the propositional recall rate of the elderly was very low, and four types of disfluencies in utterances were frequently found. Second, the propositonal recall rate was positively correlated with the overall cognitive function, vocabulary, and reading span. Third, the rate of disfluency significantly predicted the propositonal recall performance independently after controlling for cognitive functioning. These results suggest that linguistic disfluency may play a significant role in semantic aspect of discourse production in addition to cognitive functioning. Thus, disfluent utterances could be indicative of linguistic decline due to normal as well as pathological aging.

A Case Study of a Child Showing Cluttering Symptoms with Reduced Frequency of Disfluency

A Case Study of a Child Showing Cluttering Symptoms with Reduced Frequency of Disfluency

A Longitudinal Analysis on the Duration of Utterance in a Conversational Turn and Turn-Switching Pause in Preschool Children who Stutter during Interactions with Their Mothers

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate, longitudinally, the duration of utterance in a conversational turn, duration of turn-switching pause, and frequency of disfluency which young children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS) showed during interactions with their mothers.Methods: Subjects for this study consisted of 2-5 year old CWS (male 2 and female 4), an age-matched group of CWNS (male 3 and female 3), and their mothers. Frequencies of normal disfluency (ND) and abnormal disfluency (AD), and duration of utterance in a conversational turn and duration of turn-switching pause were measured two times (initial visit and 12 months later) over the course of one year.Results: At initial visit, a significant group difference was found in frequency of AD. However, no significant difference was observed in duration of utterance in a conversational turn and duration of turn-switching pause both between two parent groups and between two child groups at initial visit and 12 months later. In the CWS group, at initial visit, a positive correlation was found between frequency of AD and mother’s duration of utterance in a conversational turn. Frequency of AD was negatively correlated with both duration of turn-switching pause of mothers and that of children. After 12 months, there was a negative correlation between frequency of AD and mother’s duration of utterance in a conversational turn.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the longitudinal study of individual characteristics of CWS · mothers interactions can help speech-language pathologists to identify the interactional factors related to the recovery or persistence of stuttering and to enhance the efficacy of parent · child interaction therapy for CWS.

Exploring Relationships Among Risk Factors for Persistence in Early Childhood Stuttering.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how epidemiological and clinical factors collectively predict whether a preschooler who is stuttering will persist or recover and to provide guidance on how clinicians can use these factors to evaluate a child's risk for stuttering persistence. Method We collected epidemiological and clinical measures from 52 preschoolers (M = 54.4 months, SD = 6.7 months; 38 boys and 14 girls) diagnosed as stuttering. We then followed these children longitudinally to document whether they eventually recovered or persisted in stuttering. Risk factors found to be significantly associated with stuttering persistence were used to build single and multiple variable predictive statistical models. Finally, we assessed each model's prediction capabilities by recording how accurate a model was in predicting a child's stuttering outcome-persisting or recovered. Results We found that a positive family history of stuttering, poorer performance on a standardized articulation/phonological assessment, higher frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies during spontaneous speech, and lower accuracy on a nonword repetition task were all significantly associated with an increased probability of persistence. The interaction between family history of stuttering and nonword repetition performance was also significant. The full multiple regression model incorporating all these risk factors resulted in the best fitting model with the highest predictive accuracy and lowest error rate. Conclusions For the first time, we show how multiple risk factors collectively predict the probability of stuttering persistence in 3- to 5-year-old preschool children who stutter. Using the full combination of risk factors to assess preschoolers who stutter yielded more accurate predictions of persistence compared to sparser models. A better understanding of the factors that underlie stuttering persistence will yield insight into the underpinnings of chronic stuttering and will help identify etiological targets for novel treatment approaches.