“…Although quantitative relationships have not been reported, clinical and/or observational protocol (14,18,40,58) suggest that early parental training practices and attitudes are among the antecedent conditions which influence the acquisition and retention of stuttering behavior. In addition, the frequency of stuttering appears to be related to classes of stimulus variables such as characteristics of the word materials (n, 12, 13, J 9> 34' 35' 37> 3$> 4 2 ) an ^ of tne speech situation (4,7,8,27,47,54,60,63), threat of punishment (70), alteration of speech patterns and/or accompanying behavior (5,7,8,39,41), practice conditions (27,41,54,60), and suggestion (7) ? However, while present in all speech situations, the influence of the 1 This article is based on a thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of Psychology of the State University of Iowa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A.…”