This research will evaluate several widely held but largely untested assumptions underlying current theory and clinical practice in childhood stuttering. These assumptions are based on the notion that children's production of various types of speech disruptions (speech errors, normal disfluencies, and stuttered disfluencies) are influenced by certain characteristics of their speech, such as the length and complexity of their utterances (linguistic characteristics), and their speaking rate and response latency (paralinguistic characteristics). The research design includes five studies that will systematically evaluate the relationship between children's speech characteristics and their production of speech errors, normal disfluencies, and stuttered disfluencies by measuring change in children's fluency while experimentally manipulating: (a) children's utterance length and syntactic complexity (Study l), (b) children's speaking rate and response latency (Study 2), and (c) children's conversational partner's speech characteristics (Study 3). in addition to examining factors that affect children's fluency, this research will evaluate explanations for the underlying cause of speech disfluencies proposed in recent theories and attempt to objectively differentiate between disfluencies judged to be normal vs. stuttered, based on the acoustic characteristics of the moment of speech interruption (Study 4). Finally, to more fully examine the role speech motor abilities play in children's production of speech disfluencies, children who stutter and children who do not stutter will be compared in terms of the rate, accuracy, and fluency of their oral motor movements in an expanded diadochokinetic task (Study 5). Results from these studies will help evaluate and refine prominent theories of stuttering by evaluating key assumptions about the factors affecting children's fluency and by examining the differences between normal and stuttered disfluencies. Results will also help improve the diagnosis and treatment of children who stutter by helping clinicians evaluate different types of speech disruptions most indicative of stuttering and by evaluating several assumptions at the heart of prevailing treatments for childhood stuttering.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC003810-04
Application #
6634490
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-7 (01))
Program Officer
Shekim, Lana O
Project Start
2000-05-01
Project End
2005-04-30
Budget Start
2003-05-01
Budget End
2004-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$279,028
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pittsburgh
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Allied Health Profes
DUNS #
004514360
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213
Yaruss, J Scott; Quesal, Robert W (2006) Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES): documenting multiple outcomes in stuttering treatment. J Fluency Disord 31:90-115
Yaruss, J Scott; Quesal, Robert W (2004) Stuttering and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health: an update. J Commun Disord 37:35-52
Yaruss, J Scott; Quesal, Robert W; Murphy, Bill (2002) National Stuttering Association members' opinions about stuttering treatment. J Fluency Disord 27:227-41; quiz 241-2, III
Yaruss, J Scott; Quesal, Robert W; Reeves, Lee et al. (2002) Speech treatment and support group experiences of people who participate in the National Stuttering Association. J Fluency Disord 27:115-33; quiz 133-4