Public perceptions of stuttering in Jordan: An exploratory survey of community attitudes

Journal of Fluency Disorders · 2026-04-20

Activity differences in the brain of people with persistent developmental stuttering using functional magnetic resonance imaging during resting state position and active state position

Hearing Balance and Communication · 2024-10-01 · 1 citations

Abstract Background: Examining behavior, structure, and function of the brain of people with persistent developmental stuttering is necessary to unravel the suspected underlying neuronal mechanisms of stuttering. Aims and Objectives: The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether brain activation is related to the moment of stuttering can be identified using fMRI. Materials and Methods: This study is a case-control study, where seven adult males with persistent developmental stuttering (age range 18-28 years; M= 20.7; SD= 3.4) and seven normally fluent adults (age matched) were engaged. Results: Results indicated that adult people who stutter showed bilateral cortical activity in speech-related brain regions (middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus) during resting state posture. During the active state position, a bilateral cortical activity appeared in speech-related brain regions of precentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus. Conclusion: The findings of the current study propose that improvement in the coordination and connectivity between auditory and motor regions may enhance the fluency of speech.

Working with Adults Who Stutter

Routledge eBooks · 2022 · 1 citations

• Psychology
• Developmental psychology

This chapter surveys stuttering therapy approaches used with adults, categorized under two broad headings: stuttering management and speech restructuring. Stuttering management therapies focus on modifying the moment of stuttering and working with the cognitive, emotional, social, vocational and avoidance issues related to stuttering. In contrast, speech restructuring therapies teach a new speech motor pattern that facilitates fluent speech. The chapter focuses on methods to combine these approaches to help people who stutter decrease the severity of their core stuttering behaviour and improve the emotional and cognitive challenges of the disorder.

"Spontaneous" late recovery from stuttering: Dimensions of reported techniques and causal attributions

Journal of Communication Disorders · 2019-06-28 · 14 citations

PURPOSE: (1) To survey the employed techniques and the reasons/occasions which adults who had recovered from stuttering after age 11 without previous treatment reported as causal to overcome stuttering, (2) to investigate whether the techniques and causal attributions can be reduced to coherent (inherently consistent) dimensions, and (3) whether these dimensions reflect common therapy components. METHODS: 124 recovered persons from 8 countries responded by SurveyMonkey or paper-and-pencil to rating scale questions about 49 possible techniques and 15 causal attributions. RESULTS: A Principal Component Analysis of 110 questionnaires identified 6 components (dimensions) for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Relaxed/Monitored Speech; Elocution; Stage Performance; Sought Speech Demands; Reassurance; 63.7% variance explained), and 3 components of perceived causal attributions of recovery (Life Change, Attitude Change, Social Support; 58.0% variance explained). DISCUSSION: Two components for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Elocution) reflect treatment methods. Another component (Relaxed/Monitored Speech) consists mainly of items that reflect a common, non-professional understanding of effective management of stuttering. The components of the various perceived reasons for recovery reflect differing implicit theories of causes for recovery from stuttering. These theories are considered susceptible to various biases. This identification of components of reported techniques and of causal attributions is novel compared to previous studies who just list techniques and attributions. CONCLUSION: The identified dimensions of self-assisted techniques and causal attributions to reduce stuttering as extracted from self-reports of a large, international sample of recovered formerly stuttering adults may guide the application of behavioral stuttering therapies.

Fluency adaptation in speakers with Parkinson disease: a motor learning perspective

International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology · 2017-06-30 · 13 citations

PURPOSE: Fluency adaptation is characterised by a reduction in stuttering-like behaviours over successive readings of the same speech material and is an effect that is typically observed in developmental stuttering. Prominent theories suggest that short-term motor learning associated with practice explain, in part, fluency adaptation. The current investigation examined the fluency adaptation effect in a group of speakers with Parkinson disease (PD) who exhibited stuttering-like disfluencies. METHOD: Individuals with PD (n = 21) and neurologically healthy controls (n = 19) read a passage five times. Per cent syllables stuttered was measured and calculated for each reading passage. RESULT: Participants in the PD group exhibited significantly more stuttering-like disfluencies than control speakers. Twelve individuals in the PD group exhibited at least three per cent syllable stuttered on at least one reading. Statistical trends revealed that the subgroup of individuals with PD who stuttered exhibited a significant reduction in stuttering moments over the five successive readings. CONCLUSION: A significant fluency adaptation effect was observed for the group of speakers with PD who exhibited stuttering-like disfluencies. Results of the current study are discussed within the framework of the motor learning hypothesis of fluency adaptation.

Quantification and Systematic Characterization of Stuttering-Like Disfluencies in Acquired Apraxia of Speech

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology · 2017-06-22 · 15 citations

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to quantify and describe stuttering-like disfluencies in speakers with acquired apraxia of speech (AOS), utilizing the Lidcombe Behavioural Data Language (LBDL). Additional purposes include measuring test-retest reliability and examining the effect of speech sample type on disfluency rates. METHOD: Two types of speech samples were elicited from 20 persons with AOS and aphasia: repetition of mono- and multisyllabic words from a protocol for assessing AOS (Duffy, 2013), and connected speech tasks (Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993). Sampling was repeated at 1 and 4 weeks following initial sampling. Stuttering-like disfluencies were coded using the LBDL, which is a taxonomy that focuses on motoric aspects of stuttering. RESULTS: Disfluency rates ranged from 0% to 13.1% for the connected speech task and from 0% to 17% for the word repetition task. There was no significant effect of speech sampling time on disfluency rate in the connected speech task, but there was a significant effect of time for the word repetition task. There was no significant effect of speech sample type. CONCLUSIONS: Speakers demonstrated both major types of stuttering-like disfluencies as categorized by the LBDL (fixed postures and repeated movements). Connected speech samples yielded more reliable tallies over repeated measurements. Suggestions are made for modifying the LBDL for use in AOS in order to further add to systematic descriptions of motoric disfluencies in this disorder.

Exploring the Neural Bases of Primary Muscle Tension Dysphonia: A Case Study Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Journal of Voice · 2017-12-19 · 42 citations

IALP News

Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica · 2016-01-01

Modifying Phonation Intervals (MPI) stuttering therapy compared to standard prolonged speech treatment

Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention · 2016-01-02 · 2 citations

This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the treatment review by Ingham, R., Ingham, J., Bothe, A., Wang, Y., & Kilgo, M. (2015). Efficacy of the Modifying Phonation Intervals (MPI) stuttering treatment program with adults who stutter. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 24, 256–271.Sources of funding and declaration of interests: No conflicts of interest are reported by the authors.

Measuring stuttering in preschool-aged children across different languages

Dokumentenrepositorium der RUB (Ruhr University Bochum) · 2016-02-05 · 1 citations

\(\textit {Background/Aims:}\) Many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are working in linguistically diverse communities and have to identify and measure stuttering in a language other than their own. The aim of the present study was to extend our understanding of how well SLPs can measure stuttering in other languages and to encourage collaboration between SLPs across cultures. \(\textit {Methods:}\) Speech samples consisted of seven preschool-aged children each speaking one of the following languages: Danish, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Persian (Farsi). The judges were classified in seven groups of SLPs (n = 170) each speaking one of the seven languages of the children and two more English-speaking groups. Each judge rated the severity of stuttering in each child using a 10-point scale. The study was conducted over the Internet. \(\textit {Results:}\) Overall, the judges’ proficiency in a child’s language was not systematically related to the variability and agreement of the severity ratings, accounting for maximally 4.6% of the variance. \(\textit {Conclusion:}\) SLPs should not be overly concerned about the appropriateness of their severity ratings if they feel less proficient in the native language of the stuttering children. It may also be encouraging for beginning clinicians that the severity ratings were not systematically related to professional experience.