Background: In recent years, there has been increased identification of disfluencies in individuals with autism, but limited examination of disfluencies in the school-age range of this population. We currently lack information about whether the disfluencies of children with autism represent concomitant stuttering, normal disfluency, excessive normal disfluency, or some form of disfluency unique to the school-age population of children with autism. Aims: This paper explores the nature of disfluencies in school-aged children with autism in comparison with matched children who stutter and controls. It explores stuttering-like disfluencies, non-stuttering-like disfluencies and word-final disfluencies. Methods & Procedures:This study compared disfluency patterns in 11 school-aged children with Asperger's syndrome (AS), 11 matched children who stutter (CWS), and 11 matched children with no diagnosis (ND). Analyses were based on speech samples collected during an expository discourse task. Outcomes & Results:Results reveal statistically significant differences between children with AS and CWS and between children with AS and those with ND for the percentage of words containing stuttering-like disfluencies. In the AS group, four out of 11 (36%) met the common diagnostic criteria for a fluency disorder. Disfluencies in the AS group differed qualitatively and quantitatively from the CWS, and included a larger distribution of word-final disfluencies. Conclusions & Implications:This study provides initial data regarding patterns of disfluency in school-aged children with AS that, with careful consideration and the cautious application of all findings, can assist therapists in making more evidence-based diagnostic decisions. Findings offer evidence that when working with children with AS, disfluencies both similar and dissimilar to those of CWS may be identified in at least a subset of those with AS. Therefore, children with AS should be screened for fluency disorders during their initial evaluation and treated if it is determined that the fluency disorder negatively impacts the effectiveness of communication.

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In the past, the rationale for cluttering to be ignored, not to be taken seriously, and not to be diagnosed could be attributed to several factors stemming from problems in definition and research design. This article reviews these factors and outlines advances being made in the state of evidence on cluttering. Recommendations for ensuring that cluttering research, diagnosis, and treatment remain based in evidence are discussed.

As school districts nationwide have moved toward data driven intervention, oral reading fluency measures have become a prevalent means to monitor progress by assessing the degree to which a child is becoming a fast (and therefore fluent) reader. This article reviews results of a survey of speech‐language pathologists (SLPs) working with children who stutter. The survey found that children on SLP caseloads are being referred for reading services when they do not actually have any trouble with reading fluently, but instead have trouble with any task that involves speaking fluently. The purpose of this article is to outline potential challenges in the use of oral reading fluency measures for children with speech disorders, and to provide practical solutions to those challenges.

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