Announcing 'Stammering Research' - Stammering Research - UCL

Stammering Research. Vol. 1.
ABSTRACTS OF REPORTS FROM BSA VACATION
STUDENTSHIPS 2004
The Family History of Stuttering in Recovered and Persistent Groups
Laura Wormald, Peter Howell & Stephen Davis
Department of Psychology, University College London
The fact that stuttering runs in families has been recognised for a long time and has led to
substantial research about the role of a genetic component to the disorder (e.g. Howie, 1981; Kidd,
1980; Kidd 1984). Although there is ample evidence that a substantial proportion of people who stutter
will recover (Andrews & Harris, 1964; Johnson et al, 1959; Sheehan & Martyn, 1970; Yairi &
Ambrose, 1992) there has been little research into the family history of recovery and persistence. The
Speech Research Group at UCL has follow up data on a group of children that were first seen when
aged approximately 8 - 10 years. The children are now teenage and have been classified as persistent or
recovered using multidimensional criteria. This study examined data from the families of 54 of these
children (32 persistent and 22 recovered) and from families of 16 control children. Analysis indicated
support for the idea of a genetic component and found that a positive family history of stuttering in
67% of children who stutter compared to 37% of control children. Analysis indicated that recovery or
persistence is not transmitted genetically with equal numbers of recovered and persistent relatives
being found in the families of the recovered and persistent groups of children who stutter.
References
Andrews, G., and Harris, M. (1964) The Syndrome of Stuttering: Clinics in Developmental Medicine
17. London : Heinemann.
Howie, P. M. (1981). Concordance for stuttering in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Journal of
Speech Research, 24, 317-321.
Johnson, W., Boehmler, R., Dahlstrom, W., Darley, F., Goodstein, L., Kools, J., Neelley, J., Prather,
W., Sherman, D., Thurman, C., Trotter, W., Williams, D., & Young, M. (1959). The onset of
stuttering. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Kidd, K. K. (1984). Stuttering as a genetic disorder. In R.Curlee and W.Perkins (Eds) Nature and
Treatment of Stuttering (pp 149-169). San Diego, Calif: College Hill.
Kidd, K. K. (1980). Genetic models of stuttering. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 5, 187-201.
Sheehan, J.G., & Martyn, M.M. (1970) Stuttering and it’s disappearance. Journal of Speech and
Hearing Research, 13, 279-289.
Yairi, E., & Ambrose, N. G. (1992). A longitudinal study of stuttering in children: A preliminary
report. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 755-760.
Do children who stutter have word finding difficulties?
Khibza Hussain, Samaira Khan, Peter Howell and Stephen Davis
Department of Psychology, University College London
Stuttering is usually reported to occur in children from age two upwards and by this time the child
has usually acquired some language. This study investigated if there was anything about the way
language develops that lead some children to become stutterers and other not to become stutterers? The
study used the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon to examine language development in young
children. People in TOT state know they know a word but cannot recall the word. Using a computer
based technique this study was able to establish whether children in TOT state know anything about the
word (and to confirm exactly what information they are able to report). Data from twelve children who
stutter and 59 children who do not stutter were analysed. Analysis of the data indicated little difference
between the groups in the ability to report information about words in TOT state.
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