Relationship between stuttering severity in children and their mothers’ speaking rate

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Stuttering is a complex disease that influences occupational, social, academic and emotional achievements. The aim of this study was to correlate the stuttering severity index with speaking rates of mothers and children. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study, at the child rehabilitation clinics of Tehran city. METHODS: 35 pairs of mothers and their children who stuttered were studied. There were 29 boys and six girls, of mean age 8.5 years (range: 5.1-12.0). Speech samples from the mother-child pairs were audiotaped for approximately 15 minutes, until a reciprocal verbal interaction had been obtained. This sample was then analyzed in accordance with a stuttering severity index test and speaking rate parameters. RESULTS: The research results outlined a significant relationship between the mothers’ speaking rate and their children’s stuttering severity. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the mothers’ speaking rate should be incorporated in the assessment and treatment of stuttering.

CONTEXTO E OBJETIVO: Gagueira é uma doença complexa que tem influência nas realizações ocupacionais, sociais, acadêmicas e emocionais. A finalidade deste trabalho foi correlacionar o índice de gravidade da gagueira de crianças com as taxas de velocidade de fala das mães. TIPO DE ESTUDO E LOCAL: Estudo transversal, realizado na clínica infantil de reabilitação da cidade de Teerã. MÉTODOS: Uma amostra da fala de 35 crianças gagas pareadas com suas mães, sendo 29 meninos e 6 meninas, de 5:1-12:0 anos (idade média de 8.5), foi gravada por aproximadamente 15 minutos para avaliar a interação verbal recíproca, sendo então analisada de acordo com o índice de gravidade da gagueira e com os parâmetros de taxa de velocidade de fala. RESULTADOS: Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram uma relação significante entre a taxa de velocidade de fala da mãe e a gravidade da gagueira da criança. CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados sugerem que a taxa de velocidade da fala entre a mãe e a criança que gagueja deveria ser incorporada na avaliação e tratamento da gagueira.

Nonword repetition ability of children who do and do not stutter and covert repair hypothesis.

CONTEXT: Stuttering has a life span incidence and it significantly impacts academic, social, emotional and vocational achievements of patients who stutter. AIMS: The purpose of the present study was to examine phonological encoding in young children who stutter (CWS) during a non word repetition task and to test the covert repair hypothesis (CRH) and phonological skills in Persian native children. SETTING AND DESIGN: The study was conducted among 12 CWS and 12 children who do not stutter (CWNS) between the ages of 5.1 and 7.10 at the rehabilitation clinics in Tehran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A list of 40 bisyllabic and trisyllabic nonwords was used in a nonword repetition task to collect information about the following dependent variables: (a) reaction times (RTs), (b) the number of phonological errors (PEs) and (c) nonword length. DATA ANALYSIS: An independent sample T-test was performed to compare means of PEs and RTs between the two groups and a paired t-test for analysis of nonword length impacts. RESULTS: Results indicated that the CWS had a slightly poor performance than CWNS but there was no significant difference between the groups. Also, the differences between bisyllabic and trisyllabic nonwords were significant for phonological errors but not for reaction times. CONCLUSION: In general, it is concluded that CWS might not have a gross problem in phonological retrieval of the novel phonological context even with increase in syllable length. Also, some predictions of CRH were not supported by this research. However, further research into this possibility may shed light on the emergence and characteristics of childhood stuttering.