Preliminary information on stuttering characteristics contrasted between African American and white children.

There is a lack of studies looking at variation of behavioral stuttering among various cultures. This study compared verbal disfluency and accessory characteristics of 15 African American and 15 White male stutterers between the ages of 8 and 12. In addition to a speaking attitude scale for each of the subjects, conversational and reading samples were gathered. Good intra- and inter-judge reliability was found in assessing the various tasks. Overall results revealed no statistically significant differences in verbal or visual disfluency behaviors on either the reading or conversation tasks between the African American and White groups of children. In addition, no differences in attitudes toward speaking situations was found between the two groups of children. Implications for the diagnosis and treatment of disfluent African American elementary school aged children are discussed. Specific suggestions are made for additional disfluency research with African American children.

Relationships between esophageal speech proficiency and surgical, biographical, and social factors.

The relationship between judged esophageal speech proficiency and detailed medical/surgical, biographical, and social factors was investigated among a large sample of alaryngeal speakers. The data suggested that more extensive surgery such as radical neck dissection did not lessen the subjects' ability to learn esophageal speech. Surprisingly, subjects who had undergone radical neck surgery had better voices in many cases than those who had undergone only a simple laryngectomy. Educational level, socioeconomic status, length of time spent in speech therapy, and the number of years since surgery did not statistically influence speech results. However, those subjects still gainfully employed did achieve esophageal speech more often than those who were unemployed, particularly with reference to female subjects.