Syntactic analysis of the spontaneous speech of normally fluent and stuttering children

How Stuttering Develops: The Multifactorial Dynamic Pathways Theory

“…It has been suggested that a mismatch between the language proficiency of the child and the increasing demands of utterance length and complexity (e.g., MLU) contributes to the number of disfluencies the child displays (Zackheim & Conture, 2003). However, it is important to note that CWS as a group do not display frank language deficits (Nippold, 2002(Nippold, , 2012, and some studies have shown that specific measures of language abilities of CWS are similar to or above those of typically developing children (Kadi-Hanifi & Howell, 1992;Reilly et al, 2009;R. V. Watkins, Yairi, & Ambrose, 1999).…”

Childhood stuttering and dissociations across linguistic domains

“…That is, instances of stuttering exhibited by CWS tend to occur on (a) low frequency words (Anderson, 2005;Soderberg, 1966;Palen & Peterson, 1982), (b) first three words of an utterance (Bernstein, 1981;Howell & Au-Yeung, 1995;Wall, Starkweather, & Cairns, 1981), (c) function words (Bernstein, 1981;Bloodstein & Grossman, 1981;Graham, Conture, & Camarata, 2005;Howell, Au-Yeung, & Sackin, 1999;Natke, Sandreiser, van Ark, Pietrowsky, & Kalveram, 2004), and (d) longer or more syntactically complex utterances (Ratner & Sih, 1987;Howell & Au-Yeung, 1995;Kadi-Hanifi & Howell, 1992;Logan & Conture, 1995Melnick & Conture, 2000;Yaruss, 1999). These linguistic factors have also been shown to influence the fluency with which words are produced in adolescents and adults who stutter (e.g., Bergmann, 1986;Brown, 1945;Danzger & Halpern, 1973;Hubbard & Prins, 1994;Klouda & Cooper, 1988;Natke, Grosser, Sandrieser, & Kalveram, 2002;Prins, Hubbard, & Krause, 1991;Ronson, 1976;Wingate, 1984).…”

Effects of Length, Complexity, and Grammatical Correctness on Stuttering in Spanish-Speaking Preschool Children

“…Although the findings of the present study did not yield a significant influence of age, our age range was limited to 35-70 months (M = 51.55, SD = 10.57). Future explorations of the role of age using a broader age range in larger samples are needed to consider possible change with time in Spanish-speaking children who stutter, as the influence of linguistic demands appears to shift with age in English-speaking children (e.g., Bauerly & Gottwald, 2009;Kadi-Hanifi & Howell, 1992;Wagovich, Hall, & Clifford, 2009). …”

“…Results of these investigations suggest that for young English speakers, increased syntactic complexity and, in some cases, utterance length are associated with increased stuttering (e.g., Bernstein Ratner & Sih, 1987;Brundage & Bernstein Ratner, 1989;Gaines, Runyan, & Meyers, 1991;Kadi-Hanifi & Howell, 1992;Logan, 2003;Logan & Conture, 1995;Sawyer, Chon, & Ambrose, 2008;Weiss & Zebrowski, 1992;Yaruss, 1999;Yaruss, Newman, & Flora, 1999). Further, there is evidence in English that a mismatch between a child's overall linguistic proficiency and increased linguistic complexity may compromise fluency in preschool children who stutter as well as those who do not stutter (e.g., Bauerly & Gottwald, 2009;Zackheim & Conture, 2003).…”