Q:

When does stuttering occur in children?

A:

Usually between 2 to 5 years of age and about 1% of children world wide are stuttering at any given time.

About 5% of children have stuttered some time in their lives.

About 75% of children who start to stutter will recover without any treatment. (Yairi and Ambrose,1999)

 

Q:

If most children recover from stuttering without any intervention should I have my son/daughter be evaluated?

A:

Yes. Your child might be one of the 25% that may not out grow it and a specialist in the field like me has experience as to which ones may not out grow stuttering.

 

Q:

Do more boys stutter than girls?

A:

Yes. By first grade the male to female ratio is: 3:1 and by fifth grade, 5:1  (Bloodstein,1995)

 

Q:

Is stuttering inherited?

A:

Most likely. Research suggests that it is. Yari Estimated 30% to 60% of people who stutter have a relative who stutters. (Yairi,1996)

 

Q:

Are There factors that might predict Recovery in a young child?

A:

1.  being female

2.  family members who recovered from stuttering

3. Early onset of stuttering (prior to age 3)

4.  Good language, phonological, and non-verbal abilities  (Yairi,1996)

 

Q:

Are children and adults who stutter more nervousness that the average child or person?

A:

No. People who stutter are not more anxious or more nervous than people who do not stutter.

There is no set personality. However some have been found to be more sensitive in nature.

 

Q:

Are the brains of people who stutter different than the non-stuttering person?

A:

Maybe. EEG Studies found  more activity on the right side of the brain in people who stutter in structures similar to those on the left side of the brain in nonstutterers.

 

When stuttering occurred, there was more activity in the right insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. (De Nil et al,2000)  Both of these areas have strong connections with the amygdala.  (Fox,2003)

The amygdala is a major  structure in fear conditioning. (Allman et al,2000)

 

Studies suggest that in people-who-stutter (pws), speech planning and production are localized in right hemisphere regions homologous to Broca's, Wernicke's, and interconnecting areas.

 

Emotions lateralized to the right hemisphere of the human brain are those associated with fear, such  as avoidance, escape, and arrest of ongoing behavior.

 (Kinsbourne,1989)

 

Q:

Can speech therapy improve activity in the brain?

A:

Yes. Studies suggest people who stutter show more left hemisphere activity during speech after treatment.

That there was more blood flow occurring in that area.

 

Q:

Does speech therapy cure stuttering?

A:

No. However speech therapy can help the child or person who stutters tremendously deal with the fear of stuttering and learn how to stutter in an easier way so that they can communicate effectively.

 

Q:

Do People who stutter have slower speech?

A:

When talking fluently pws on the average have longer vowel durations, slower transitions between consonants and vowels, and delayed onsets of voicing after voiceless consonants.

One possible cause: Increased tension in muscles that move a structure forward (agonists), as well as muscles that hold it back (antagonists), would make movement of that structure considerably slower. (Guitar,2006)

 

Contact me - for further info and Evidence Based Practice References.

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Gail Wilson Lew Speech Pathology

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