Exchange of Stuttering From Function Words to Content Words With Age

Abstract

Dysfluencies on function words in the speech of people who stutter mainly occur when function words precede, rather than follow, content words (Au-Yeung, Howell, & Pilgrim, 1998). It is hypothesized that such function word dysfluencies occur when the plan for the subsequent content word is not ready for execution. Repetition and hesitation on the function words buys time to complete the plan for the content word. Stuttering arises when speakers abandon the use of this delaying strategy and carry on, attempting production of the subsequent, partly prepared content word. To test these hypotheses, the relationship between dysfluency on function and content words was investigated in the spontaneous speech of 51 people who stutter and 68 people who do not stutter. These participants were subdivided into the following age groups: 2-6-year-olds, 7-9-year-olds, 10-12-year-olds, teenagers (13-18 years), and adults (20-40 years). Very few dysfluencies occurred for either fluency group on function words that occupied a position after a content word. For both fluency groups, dysfluency within each phonological word occurred predominantly on either the function word preceding the content word or on the content word itself, but not both. Fluent speakers had a higher percentage of dysfluency on initial function words than content words. Whether dysfluency occurred on initial function words or content words changed over age groups for speakers who stutter. For the 2-6-year-old speakers that stutter, there was a higher percentage of dysfluencies on initial function words than content words. In subsequent age groups, dysfluency decreased on function words and increased on content words. These data are interpreted as suggesting that fluent speakers use repetition of function words to delay production of the subsequent content words, whereas people who stutter carry on and attempt a content word on the basis of an incomplete plan.

Nonword repetition skills in young children who do and do not stutter

“…Hakim and Ratner (2004) were the first to study phonological working memory directly in CWS. Given recent attention, both theoretical (e.g., Howell et al, 1999;Postma & Kolk, 1993) and empirical (e.g., Arndt & Healey, 2001), to the role of expressive phonological skills and phonological processing, the investigation of phonological working memory seems important and timely.…”

“…Within the area of fluency disorders, several models, such as the covert repair hypothesis (Postma & Kolk, 1993) and the EXPLAN theory (e.g., Howell, Au-Yeung, & Sackin, 1999), include phonology and phonological processing as components in their explanation of stuttering. Moreover, as previously indicated, phonological disorders frequently co-occur with stuttering in young children (Arndt & Healey, 2001).…”

“…Hakim and Ratner (2004) were the first to study phonological working memory directly in CWS. Given recent attention, both theoretical (e.g., Howell et al, 1999;Postma & Kolk, 1993) and empirical (e.g., Arndt & Healey, 2001), to the role of expressive phonological skills and phonological processing, the investigation of phonological working memory seems important and timely.The present study was intended to examine the phonological working memory skills of a group of CWS and their age-, gender-, and SES-matched peers. In particular, the study was designed to examine (a) whether the groups differed in the number of correct responses or in the number of phoneme errors produced in a nonword repetition task, (b) the relationship between language test performance and nonword repetition performance for CWS and their normally fluent peers, and (c) whether CWS differed in the fluency of their responses as nonword length varied.…”

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

“…Moreover, since stuttering has been reported to be observed more often on or near function words in young English-and Spanishspeaking children (e.g., Au-Yeung et al, 2003;Howell, Au-Yeung, & Pilgrim, 1999;Howell, Au-Yeung, & Sackin, 1999;Howell et al, 2004), the relationship between grammatical correctness and grammatical class merits investigation. 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).…”

“…The possibility of similar stuttering patterns in Spanish-and Englishspeaking children has been supported. For example, in both English and Spanish, stuttering in young children has been observed to occur more frequently on or around function words (e.g., Au-Yeung, Howell, & Pilgrim, 1998;Bloodstein & Gantwerk, 1967;Bloodstein & Grossman, 1981;Howell, Au-Yeung, & Sackin, 1999;Howell et al, 2004;Watson, 2002;.…”