Adults Recovered From Stuttering Without Formal Treatment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if the speech of adults who self-judged that they were recovered from stuttering without the assistance of treatment is perceptually different from that of adults who never stuttered. Fifteen adult speakers verified as persons who had recovered from a valid stuttering problem without the assistance of treatment were compared with 15 adult speakers verified as persons with normally fluent speech. Judges viewed videotaped speech samples of all speakers and were instructed to decide whether a speaker used to stutter or never stuttered. A separate group of judges rated the same samples for speech naturalness. Various speech behavior measures were also obtained. Results revealed that the speech of speakers who used to stutter was perceptually different from that of speakers who never stuttered. This difference was correlated with unnatural sounding speech and a high frequency of part-word repetitions.

Towards a functional neural systems model of developmental stuttering

“…Currently studies are being conducted on recovered stutterers, the initial group being male stutterers who recovered from stuttering in early adulthood, without formal treatment, and claim to have been recovered for at least 10 years. [Each participant in these studies was identified via their participation in behavioral studies on recovery from stuttering in adulthood conducted by Patrick Finn (1996, 1997.] In addition, studies are being conducted using MEG and event-related fMRI in order to cross validate some of the prominent findings from PET investigations of stuttering.…”

“Roadblocks” revisited: Neural change, stuttering treatment, and recovery from stuttering

“…As Ingham (1983) also addressed, problems arise at each stage of any purportedly unassisted recovery from stuttering: Was the recovery truly unassisted, was the recovery truly a complete recovery, and was the person unquestionably stuttering to begin with? The third of these is much less an issue with adults than with children, and Finn (1996and Finn ( , 1997 has developed and validated protocols for establishing that adults did stutter. The first two issues, however, are complex, and both have important implications for attempts to understand stuttering and its treatment.…”

“…The present authors have previously suggested that stuttering treatment for adults and adolescents might be better understood by carefully investigating those who appear to have fully recovered from the disorder without the benefits of formal intervention (Finn, 1997(Finn, , 2004Ingham, 1983Ingham, , 1990Ingham, , 1993Ingham & Cordes, 1999). Given the continuing malaise in stuttering treatment research (Bothe et al, 2003), especially for adults and adolescents, and the known interaction between neural plasticity and recovery, the time might be ripe for research that acts on those suggestions.…”

Factors related to Recovery and Relapse in Persons with Stuttering Following Treatment: A Preliminary Study

“…Craig et al (1987) reported that smooth speech is maintained in about 70% of persons with stuttering, for 6 to 18 months following therapy. As reported by Finn (1997) support from family and friends, proper rest, moderate exercise, nutrition, therapy, proper supervision, and psychiatric/psychological support are all vital components in maintaining recovery from stuttering. Relapse has been broadly defined as the recurrence of symptoms after a period of improvement (Webster, 1979).…”

“…The speech modifications along with motivation to change, acquiring positive attitudes towards self or the speech problem, speaking more slowly, and self-monitoring were reported as few of the major factors which contribute to the recovery of persons with stuttering (Quarrington, 1977). The other important factor that seemed to make a difference was the severity of stuttering (Finn, 1997). Ingham et al (2005) suggested that to identify the limits of recovery from a persistent disorder, a behavioural, cognitive and neurophysiologic framework could represent a benchmark for evaluating recovery in stuttering treatment for adolescents and adults.…”