Essay On Stuttering

Although stuttering has been regarded as a disorder of overt speech production, it is clear that factors outside the speech motor system also influence its development. It has been hypothesized that stuttering is the result of interactions between a vulnerable speech motor system and factors such as genetic predispositions, emotion regulation, and linguistic and other cognitive processing demands that interfere with the functioning of this system (Andrade, 2006; Bloodstein & Bernstein-Ratner, 2008; Smith, 1990; Smith & Kelly, 1997). A large body of literature indicates that interactions between all these factors need to be comprehended to arrive at a deeper understanding of the disorder (e.g., Ambrose, Yairi, & Cox, 1993; Bosshardt, Ballmer, & de Nil, 2002; Howell, 2004; Paden, Ambrose, & Yairi, 2002; Kleinow & Smith, 2000; Ratner, 1997; Weber-Fox, 2001). Consequently, one line of recent research has focused on language and underlying cognitive processing (e.g., Anderson & Conture, 2000; Bernstein Ratner, 1997; Bloodstein, 2006; Nippold, 1990; Watkins, 2005; Watkins & Johnson, 2004; Watkins, Yairi, & Ambrose, 1999). In the present study the syntactic comprehension ability and the influence of working memory and processing speed were examined in children who stutter (CWS) and their matched peers. The article starts with a section discussing stuttering and language in general. Following this, processing demands and working memory influences on language performance are discussed. Then the syntactic structures singled out for examination in the current study are described.

1.1 Stuttering and Language

Several factors support the view that stuttering is linked to language ability. In general, stuttering typically begins between two and ...

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...ed little support for the idea that CWS typically present, as a group, clinically-significant syntactic delays (Howell, Davis, & Au-Yeung, 2003; Kadi-Hanifi & Howell, 1992; Kloth, Janssen, Kraaimaat, & Brutten, 1995; Ryan, 1992; Watkins, Yairi, & Ambrose, 1999). Kadi-Hanifi and Howell (1992) examined expressive syntactic development in CWS from 2;7 to 12;6 years of age using MLU measures. There were no significant differences between the CWS and their non-stuttering peers, which suggests that CWS, as a group, were not deficient in expressive syntactic development. In a subsequent study, Howell, Davis, and Au-Yeung (2003) examined receptive syntactic development in 20 CWS and 86 CWNS who ranged in age from 5 to 10 years. Each child was administered the Reception of Syntax Test (ROST) which is a computerized sentence comprehension test that was designed by the authors.