The present investigation is a follow-up to a longitudinal speech and academic study involving approximately 400 normally developing children begun in 1960 by Mildred Templin. From this large data base, the present project invited the participation of two groups of subjects (now aged 32 to 34): (a) 24 adults with a documented history of moderately severe phonological disorder that persisted at least through the end of first grade (probands) and (b) 28 adults from the same birth cohort and schools who were known to have had at least average articulation skills over the same period (controls). Results of follow-up testing revealed that the proband adults performed significantly more poorly than the control adults on all of the administered measures of articulation, expressive language, and receptive language. Results obtained from a screening of nonverbal reasoning ability were equivocal. On a questionnaire measure of personality, both groups scored well within the normal range for the dimensions of extroversion and neuroticism when compared to the test’s normative sample. These results have been interpreted as suggesting that although many adults with a childhood history of delayed phonological development will continue to experience linguistic outcomes that are less favorable than those of controls, their performance in selected nonlanguage domains (e.g., nonverbal reasoning, personality) will be far more typical of the general population.

The present investigation is a follow-up to a longitudinal study involving approximately 400 normally developing children begun in 1960. From this large database, two groups of subjects (now aged 32–34) were asked to participate in the present project: (a) a group of 24 adults with a documented history of a moderate phonological/language disorder that persisted through at least the end of first grade (probands), and (b) a group of 28 adults from the same birth cohort and schools who were known to have had at least average articulation skills over the same period (controls). As part of a larger project, these adults were interviewed about their educational and occupational accomplishments and those of their siblings. Results revealed that, in comparison to control subjects, the proband adults reported that they had received lower grades in high school, required more remedial academic services throughout their school careers, and completed fewer years of formal education. Occupationally, although the groups did not differ in employment status, the proband subjects tended to occupy jobs considered semiskilled or unskilled with a much greater frequency than both the control subjects and their gender-matched siblings. When asked to indicate general satisfaction with educational and occupational outcomes, however, subjects in both groups tended to rate themselves as either “very” or “fairly” satisfied.

The liability to express both high nonfluency and problems with self-regulation/inhibition may arise from a common set of pathogenic mechanisms. This supports emerging models of stuttering, which propose that poor fluency may be part of a broader network of impaired self-regulatory processes.

This study used thematic analysis to gain a better understanding of the experiences of individuals who reported late recovery from stuttering. Using a semistructured interview, 6 adults who reported recovering from stuttering after the age of 10 were asked to relate their recovery stories, with particular emphasis on their perceptions of factors responsible for the recovery process. The interviews were parsed into information-rich quotations that were ultimately placed into thematic categories. Three thematic categories appeared to capture the majority of the recovery attributions: (a) increased confidence; (b) increased motivation, expressed as a desire to make positive changes in speech; and (c) direct speech changes. Narrative case studies were subsequently developed to illustrate the 3 different "pathways to recovery" that were described by our participants.