Am J Speech Lang Pathol
January 2025
Purpose: Pseudostuttering, or the act of voluntarily stuttering or stuttering on purpose, has been both regularly used by clinicians alongside clients in stuttering therapy and taught to students in stuttering courses for decades. However, in recent years, teaching speech-language pathology students how to pseudostutter in stuttering courses has been increasingly questioned by students on grounds that pseudostuttering may be ableist, a disability simulation, and of questionable clinical value. The purpose of this article is to discuss the value and ethics of pseudostuttering assignments as part of graduate clinical education for speech-language pathologists (SLPs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Self-stigma occurs when a person internalizes and applies stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination to themselves. For adults who stutter, self-stigma is linked to negative outcomes and reduced quality of life. The development of self-stigma in people who stutter is not well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering for Adults (OASES-A; Yaruss & Quesal, 2016) is a widely used measurement tool designed to evaluate the adverse impact associated with stuttering. Items examine general perceptions of stuttering, personal reactions to stuttering, functional communication difficulties, and consequences for quality of life. This paper presents a shortened research version of the OASES-A response form (OASES-A-R) that can be used by researchers in scientific studies involving adults who stutter that reflect the Section and Total Scores of the original OASES-A using fewer items.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is the process of engaging in negatively valenced and habitual thought patterns. RNT is strongly associated with mental health conditions and often affects quality of life. This study explored RNT in older school-age children and adolescents who stutter to quantify the relationship between RNT and self-reported anxiety characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: People who stutter often experience significant adverse impact related to stuttering. However, it is unclear how adverse impact develops in children who stutter (CWS) and whether there are protective factors that may mitigate its development. This study examined the relationship between resilience, a potentially protective factor, and stuttering's adverse impact in CWS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Prior research has suggested that people who stutter exhibit differences in some working memory tasks, particularly when more phonologically complex stimuli are used. This study aimed to further specify working memory differences in adults who stutter by not only accounting for linguistic demands of the stimuli but also individual differences in attentional control and experimental influences, such as concomitant processing requirements.
Method: This study included 40 adults who stutter and 42 adults who do not stutter who completed the Attention Network Test (ANT; Fan et al.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the value for speech-language pathologists of considering the overall stuttering condition-including speakers' experiences during and around moments of stuttering-in treatment with individuals who stutter. We first highlight a framework for conceptualizing the entirety of the stuttering condition. We then present recent research and clinical perspectives about stuttering to support the claim that speech-language pathologists who account for individual differences in how their clients experience stuttering are better positioned to treat stuttering more effectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: This study evaluated the relationship between (ER) and adverse impact related to stuttering across the developmental spectrum, in preschool and school-age children, adolescents, and adults who stutter. An additional aim examined how these variables relate to the ways that individuals approach speaking (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStuttering is a neurodevelopmental speech disorder associated with motor timing that differs from non-stutterers. While neurodevelopmental disorders impacted by timing are associated with compromised auditory-motor integration and interoception, the interplay between those abilities and stuttering remains unexplored. Here, we studied the relationships between speech auditory-motor synchronization (a proxy for auditory-motor integration), interoceptive awareness, and self-reported stuttering severity using remotely delivered assessments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHemodynamic responses (HRs) are typically averaged across experimental sessions based on the assumption that brain activation is consistent over multiple trials. This may not be a safe assumption, especially in pediatric populations, due to unaccounted effects of inattention, fatigue, or habituation. The purpose of this study was to quantify the consistency of the HR over speech and language brain regions during speech production in typically developing school-aged children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: This article presents several potential concerns with the common usage of the term in the study of and people who stutter (or, as many speakers now prefer, ). Our goal is to bridge gaps between clinicians, researchers, and stutterers to foster a greater sense of collaboration and understanding regarding the words that are used and meanings that are intended.
Method: We begin by reviewing the history of the term .
Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine how nonword repetition (NWR) performance may be impacted by the presence of concomitant speech and language disorders in young children who stutter (CWS).
Method: One hundred forty-one children (88 CWS and 53 children who do not stutter [CWNS]) participated. CWS were divided into groups based on the presence of speech sound and/or language disorder or typical speech sound production and language abilities.
Purpose Recent studies have shown that many children who stutter may have elevated characteristics of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although childhood ADHD commonly persists into adulthood, it is unclear how many adults who stutter experience aspects of ADHD (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose It has long been known that stuttering behaviors vary across time and situation. Preliminary evidence suggests that this variability negatively affects people who stutter and that stuttering behaviors are more variable than adverse impact associated with stuttering. More information is needed to determine how variability affects people who stutter and what the clinical and research implications of variability may be.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose The purpose of this study is to document disfluency behaviors expressed by 4- and 5-year-old children who stutter and to identify whether stuttering characteristics at this age are predictive of later stuttering recovery or persistence. Method We analyzed spontaneous speech samples from 47 children diagnosed with developmental stuttering when they were 4-5 years old. Based on their eventual diagnosis made the final year of participation in the longitudinal study when the children were 6-9 years old, the children were divided into two groups: children who eventually recovered from stuttering ( = 29) and children who were persisting ( = 18).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Recovery and relapse relating to stuttering are often defined in terms of the presence or absence of certain types of speech disfluencies as observed by clinicians and researchers. However, it is well documented that the experience of the overall stuttering condition involves more than just the production of stuttered speech disfluencies. This study sought to identify what recovery and relapse mean to people who stutter based on their own unique experiences to account for both the stuttering behaviors and the broader adverse impact of the condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Speech Lang Pathol
February 2020
Purpose Prior research has explored how repetitive negative thinking (RNT) contributes to both the increased persistence and severity of various disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. This study explored the potential role of RNT in the experience of stuttering, with a particular focus on the relationship between RNT, adverse impact, and certain temperament profiles. Method Three hundred thirteen adults who stutter completed a measurement of the frequency/severity of RNT (Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire; Ehring et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose This study explored group experiences and individual differences in the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings perceived by adults who stutter. Respondents' goals when speaking and prior participation in self-help/support groups were used to predict individual differences in reported behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Method In this study, 502 adults who stutter completed a survey examining their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in and around moments of stuttering.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Numerous frameworks and definitions have sought to differentiate what behaviors and experiences should be considered as a part of stuttering. Nearly all of these efforts have been based on the perspectives and beliefs of conversational partners and listeners. This outside-in approach to defining stuttering lacks validation from people who live with the condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Stuttering behaviors and moments of stuttering are typically defined by what a listener perceives. This study evaluated participants' perceptions of their own experience of moments of stuttering.
Method: Thirteen adults who stutter participated in a phenomenological qualitative study examining their experience of moments of stuttering.
Folia Phoniatr Logop
May 2019
Purpose: Speech-language pathologists routinely assess physical tension during evaluation of those who stutter. If speakers experience tension that is not visible to clinicians, then judgments of severity may be inaccurate. This study addressed this potential discrepancy by comparing judgments of tension by people who stutter and expert clinicians to determine if clinicians could accurately identify the speakers' experience of physical tension.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Speech Lang Pathol
February 2017
Purpose: This study surveyed didactic and clinical education in fluency disorders at undergraduate and graduate institutions in the United States that provide education in speech-language pathology to determine whether a previously observed reduction in requirements has continued since prior surveys (Yaruss, 1999; Yaruss & Quesal, 2002).
Method: The study involved a detailed questionnaire that was sent to 282 communication science and disorders departments. Questions examined didactic and clinical education, as well as faculty knowledge about fluency disorders.