Research article summary (published 29 Nov 1999):

A longitudinal investigation of speaking rate in preschool children who stutter.

Full Abstract

Both clinical and theoretical interest in stuttering as a disorder of speech motor control has led to numerous investigations of speaking rate in people who stutter. The majority of these studies, however, has been conducted with adult and school-age groups. Most studies of preschoolers have included older children. Despite the ongoing theoretical and clinical focus on speaking rate in young children who stutter and their parents, no longitudinal or cross-sectional studies have been conducted to answer questions about the possible developmental link between stuttering and the rate of speech, or about differences in rate development between preschool children who stutter and normally fluent children. This investigation compared changes in articulatory rate over a period of 2 years in subgroups of preschool-age children who stutter and normally fluent children. Within the group of stuttering children, comparisons also were made between those who exhibited persistent stuttering and those who eventually recovered without intervention. Furthermore, the study compared two metrics of articulatory rate. Spontaneous speech samples, collected longitudinally over a 2-year period, were analyzed acoustically to determine speaking rate measured in number of syllables and phones per second. Results indicated no differences among the 3 groups when articulation rate was measured in syllables per second. Using the phones per second measure, however, significant group differences were found when comparing the control group to the recovered and persistent groups.

Author information

Author/s: Hall, K D (KD); Amir, O (O); Yairi, E (E);

Affiliation: Department of Communicative Disorders, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, 60155-2899, USA. kdhall(-atsign-)niu.edu

Grants: R01-DC00459 (Agency:NIDCD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR (J Speech Lang Hear Res), published in UNITED STATES. (Language: eng)

Reference: 1999-Dec; vol 42 (issue 6) : pp 1367-77

Dates: Created 2000/02/01; Completed 2000/02/01; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 10599619, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult Analysis of Variance Child, Preschool Female Follow-Up Studies

Humans Male Speech - physiology Speech Acoustics Stuttering - diagnosis

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