Persistent developmental stuttering is generally considered a speech disorder and affects ∼1% of the global population. While mainstream treatments continue to rely on unreliable behavioral speech motor targets, an emerging research perspective utilizes the mirror neuron system hypothesis as a neural substrate in the science and treatment of stuttering. The purpose of this exploratory study is to test the viability of the mirror neuron system hypothesis in the fluency enhancement of those who stutter. Participants were asked to speak while they were producing self-generated manual gestures, producing and visually perceiving self-generated manual gestures, and visually perceiving manual gestures, relative to a nonmanual gesture control speaking condition. Data reveal that all experimental speaking conditions enhanced fluent speech in all research participants, and the simultaneous perception and production of manual gesturing trended toward greater efficacious fluency enhancement. Coupled with existing research, we interpret these data as suggestive of fluency enhancement through subcortical involvement within multiple levels of an action understanding mirror neuron network. In addition, incidental findings report that stuttering moments were observed to simultaneously occur both orally and manually. Consequently, these data suggest that stuttering behaviors are compensatory, distal manifestations over multiple expressive modalities to an underlying centralized genetic neural substrate of the disorder.
Purpose This study measured between-group differences in perceived speech skills and personality characteristics of a 12-year-old boy who stutters as a function of a factual stuttering disclosure statement, delivered by the boy who stutters, his “mother,” or his “teacher.” Method Two hundred seventeen college-aged adults were randomly assigned to one of four groups, including a control group (no stuttering disclosure) and three experimental groups (child disclosure, mother disclosure, and teacher disclosure). Participants in the control condition viewed a brief video of a 12-year-old boy who stutters. For the experimental conditions, participants viewed a brief factual stuttering disclosure video (delivered by the child, mother, or teacher), followed by the same minute-long video of a boy who stutters used in the control condition. Following the videos, participants completed surveys relative to their perception of the boy's speech skills and personality characteristics. Results Results support previous research citing benefits of stuttering disclosure. Significant between-group differences in both perceived speech skills and personality characteristics were observed when stuttering was disclosed by not only the child who stutters but also his teacher. When stuttering was disclosed by the mother, limited positive attitudinal differences were observed in speech skills; as a matter of fact, a number of personality characteristics were perceived more negatively as a function of stuttering disclosure by the mother. Conclusions While results were generally most positive when the boy disclosed his own stuttering, data from this study support the efficacy of verbal stuttering disclosure provided by a teacher as a means of improving perceptions associated with stuttering. Accordingly, data support the notion that children who stutter will experience an improved quality of life when taught effective self-disclosure strategies by both parents and professionals, and that professionals (but not necessarily parents) can effectively disclose their clients' stuttering during this mentorship and self-advocacy process.
Fluency-enhancing speech feedback, originating from internally or externally generated sources via auditory or visual sensory modalities is not restricted to a specific sensory modality or signal origination. Research suggests that externally generated digital vibrotactile speech feedback serves as an effective fluency enhancer. The present purpose was to test the fluency-enhancing effects of self-generated digital vibrotactile speech feedback on stuttering frequency. Adults who stutter read passages aloud over the telephone, both with and without digital vibrotactile speech feedback. Digital vibrotactile speech feedback was operationally defined as feeling the vibrations of the thyroid cartilage with the thumb and index finger while speaking. Analysis indicated that self-generated digital vibrotactile speech feedback reduced overt stuttering frequency by an average of 72%. As the specific neural mechanisms associated with stuttering and fluency enhancement from tactile speech feedback remain unknown, theoretical implications and clinical applications were discussed.
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