A comparison of syntax in young stutterers and nonstutterers

This study compares the syntactic structure of the spontaneous speech of a small group of stutterers and nonstutterers, using a method of constituent analysis. Speech samples were taped during play sessions with subjects, and the tapes were then transcribed and analyzed according to preselected constituent criteria. The stutterers were in the early stages of stuttering and had been diagnosed as stutterers by experienced clinicians. The method of analysis proved to be highly reliable. Differences were found in the number of complete clauses, the number of complex sentences, and in clause types between the two groups.     

Toward an integrated approach to early childhood stuttering

This article proposes a model that integrates various factors influencing early childhood stuttering. The factors interact in a synergistic manner and can be subsumed under three macrofactors: physiological, psycholinguistic, and psychosocial. Such a model can be clinically applied toward an integrated approach to the assessment and treatment of the young stutterer.     

Issues to consider in the differential diagnosis of normal childhood nonfluencies and stuttering

Historically more attention has been focused on the adult stutterer than on the young stutterer. This article discusses three key issues in the differential diagnosis of normal childhood nonfluencies and childhood stuttering. The three issues are (1) whether early childhood disfluencies are heterogeneous or homogeneous phenomena, (2) whether the relationship between normal childhood nonfluencies and early stuttering is continuous or dichotomous, and (3) whether normal nonfluencies and stuttering differ quantitatively or qualitatively. Theoretical research as well as clinical implications of these issues are discussed.     

Progressive changes in articulatory patterns in verbal apraxia: A longitudinal case study

This research reports findings in a 10-year study of an apraxic adult, who was one of five subjects described by Shankweiler and Harris, (Cortex, ,2 277–292, 1966). Confusion matrices and feature analysis were used to compare 1965 and 1975 performances. Results indicate that over the 10-year period, errors of place, manner, and omission were markedly reduced. Voicing errors, however, while reduced in total number, still constituted a significant percentage of the patient's residual errors. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Temporal coordination of phonation and articulation in a case of verbal apraxia: A voice onset time study

A study of voice onset time (VOT) in stop production was undertaken in order to investigate the hypothesis that the voicing feature errors in the speech of an apraxic patient (Sands, E. S., Freeman, F. J., & Harris, K. S. 1978. Brain and Language, 6, 97–105) were related to deficits in temporal coordination of phonation and articulation. Results demonstrated that the VOTs of the apraxic subject differed markedly from those of normal subjects. The apraxic productions did not include voicing lead for voiced stops. Lag times for voiced stops were longer than normal, while those for voiceless stops were shorter than normal, yielding a compression of the two categories and a marked overlap.     

Teacher attitudes toward stuttering

Attitudes of 100 elementary school teachers toward stuttering were studied using the Teacher Attitudes Toward Stuttering (TATS) Inventory. Teacher attitudes, as indicated by TATS Inventory scores, were compared with teacher knowledge of stuttering, age of teacher, number of years teaching experience, educational level, and whether the teacher had personal experience with a stutterer. Results indicated that significant positive correlations existed between teacher attitudes toward and knowledge of stuttering. Significant negative correlations were demonstrated between teacher attitudes/knowledge of stuttering and the presence of a stuttering child in the classroom. The applicability of the TATS Inventory as a clinical instrument in its current form and the research needed to enhance its flexibility are discussed.     

A comparison of the Probe technique and conventional therapy for young stutterers

This study contrasted the gains made in speech theraphy by 39 stutterers, 15 of whom were treated by conventional methods and 24 by the Probe technique. It was found that the Probe technique yielded substantially greater gains in fluency than did the conventional method, having more influence on final performance than factors such as initial fluency, time since onset of stuttering, or the presence of other unacceptable behaviors.     

Some relationships between adaptation and electromyographic activity at laryngeal and masseter sites in stutterers

Cumulative integrated electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from laryngeal and masseter sites from ten stutterers during a five trial oral adaptation sequence. Results showed more activity at the laryngeal site than the masseter site. While significant reductions in EMG activity were not found, patterns were shown to be related to the subjects' dysfluency patterns over trials. Results were interpreted as suggesting that reduced muscle activity and adaptation (when they occur) are artifacts of other behavioral modifications resulting from overt motor practice.     

Phonatory initiation,termination, and vocal frequency change reaction times of stutterers

Four types of voice reaction times were investigated for eight adult stutterers and eight control subjects using a vocal shadowing paradigm. These were voice initiation and termination reaction times (VIT and VTT, respectively) and voice frequency-shift intiation and termination reaction times (SIT and STT, respectively). Results indicated that the stutterers were slower in VIT, but were as fast as their control subjects in VTT, SIT, and STT. It was suggested that a laryngeal discoordination problem of stutterers lies primarily in the stage of adduction (turning on the voicing) rather than in the stage of abduction (turning off the voicing) or in finer frequency control at the larynx.     

Vocal changes in stutterers and nonstutterers when speaking to children

Within the last few years, considerable attention has been devoted to the possibility that the amelioration of stuttering in many novel speaking conditions is a function of vocal changes with or without accompanying modifications in prosodic expression. These formulations have made reference primarily to conditions in which stutterers were induced into one or another novel speech pattern by an external stimulus such as masking noise, a rhythmic cue, or by instructions to sing, or read in unison with another speaker. In contrast, far less attention has been paid to other ameliorative conditions that lack a novel external stimulus or special instructions that direct the stutterer to speak in some unique manner. Speaking or reading to a child is an example of this latter type of condition. The present study was conducted to see if nine adult stutterers and a matched group of nonstutterers would evince vocal changes as they read aloud to another adult, a child, and a child and adult together. There was also a fourth control condition wherein the subjects read to one of the experimenters. Dependent measures of disfluency and stuttering, fundamental frequency, fundamental frequency deviation, fluent reading rate, and peak vocal sound pressure level were made and treated statistically. The major findings of this study indicated that, relative to the control condition, both subject groups exhibited several vocal changes when reading to a child alone and to a child and adult together. In addition, the stutterers experienced a reduction in disfluency, but only when reading to the child alone. The normal speakers exhibited too few disfluencies in the control condition for any meaningful change to occur in that dependent variable. The fact that the stutterers evinced vocal changes in both experimental conditions but a significant drop in disfluency in just one bears importantly on hypotheses that emphasize vocal changes in conditions that ameliorate stuttering.     

The effect of punishment on a factor I stuttering behavior

On each of five days the subject of this experiment read aloud different material during an 18-min A₁ (base rate), B (experimental), and A₂ (extinction) period. No stimulation was delivered during the first three days. On the fourth day, the nonsense word “norg” was presented noncontingently during the experimental period. There was no statistically significant difference between the A₁ and B periods on any of these four days. On day five, “wrong” was made contingent on Factor I prolongations during the experimental period. As a result, there was a statistically significant increase in their frequency. When the response consequence was removed in the A₂ priod, there was a reliable reduction in prolongations and the frequency closely approximated that found in the A₁ period. These data suggest that response-contingent negative stimulation is contraindicated as a clinical tactic for use with Factor I prolongations. It not only failed to suppress them, it increased their frequency.     

Programmed stuttering therapy for children: Comparison of four establishment programs

Four different establishment programs (programmed traditional, delayed auditory feedback, pause, and gradual increase in length and complexity of utterance) for improving the fluency of school-age children who stutter were compared. The programs were carried out by eight public school clinicians with 16 children (eight elementary and eight junior-senior high school) in their respective schools. All four programs produced important improvement in the speech fluency of the 16 children. All the children demonstrated transfer of fluency to extratraining settings. The delayed auditory feedback program required the least therapy hours, but it was difficult for the clinicians to operate correctly. The gradual increase in length and complexity of utterance programs produced the best overall results. The transfer and maintenance programs provided for additional generalization and permanency of fluency. Follow-up revealed that the children continued their increased level of fluency.     

Nonspecific elements in therapy with stutterers

Currently, many different strategies are employed by respected professionals working in the area of therapy for persons who stutter. This phenomenon serves as a point of departure for reflections on the nonspecific elements involved in therapy. Drawing on the literature of holistic medicine and psychotherapy these elements are identified as follows: (1) active participation of the client in the therapy process; (2) role of self-management skills; (3) influence of client's expectations regarding treatment; (4) suggestion as a factor in therapy; and (5) the therapeutic relationship.     

Rate changes in the speech of stutterers after therapy

The fluent speaking rate of nine adult male stutterers was compared before and after stuttering intervention. The subjects, ranging in age from 18 to 37 yr (mean, 25 yr, 3 mo), exhibited mild to severe stuttering prior to treatment. The only rate reduction strategy taught to subjects during intervention was to slow the first phoneme or syllable of sentences spoken. In addition, however, subjects significantly reduced their overall rate as determined by measurements made of their fluent speech at the middle of sentences, as well as overall sentence durations (excepting the first word of utterances). The data from this investigation are interpreted relative to the facilitation/simplification hypothesis.     

Tokens for stuttering

Four young stutterers were observed during 10 weekly sessions. Each session was divided into pretreatment, treatment, and posttreatment segments. Redeemable tokens were administered contingent upon stuttering behaviors in the treatment segment of the Experimental condition. In a Parallel Control condition, no tokens were administered during the entire session. The differences between the pretreatment and treatment segments were compared for the two conditions. Three subjects had dramatically fewer stuttering behaviors when tokens were being administered, while the fourth had more stuttering under the same condition. The subject whose stuttering increased had a history of therapy in which voluntary, “faked” stuttering had been called for, and the behaviors that increased were judged to be of this type. The decreases were interpreted as suggesting that the contingent tokens acted to countercondition the aversiveness of the stuttering experience, which reduced the anticipation of stuttering and hence the stuttering itself. The increase was felt to be simple reinforcement. The counterconditioning interpretation was borne out in two clinical applications in which money was presented contingent on stuttering behaviors judged to be aversive to the stutterer, and in which dramatically sudden, but long-lasting, improvement was seen.     

A case of adult onset of stuttering

A 36-yr-old adult male was treated for stuttering after a “sudden onset” of disfluency according to the client, 3 yr before. The treatment method and results are described and the “awareness” feature of stuttering onset is discussed.     

Vocal changes in stutterers and nonstutterers during high- and low-pitched speech

This study was conducted to provide an indirect test of Wingate's “modified vocalization” hypothesis. In this formulation, the improved fluency that stutterers experience in various novel conditions is attributed to changes in the key correlates of stress, namely, fundamental frequency, vocal SPL, and rate.Normal speakers and stutterers read aloud in an habitual condition following instructions to read at higher- and lower-than-normal pitches. Objective measures were taken of subjects' fundamental frequency, fundamental frequency deviation, vocal SPL, and fluent reading rate. Disfluences were also counted. Findings showed that both stutterers and normals altered several features of voicing from the habitual to the two experimental conditions. Significant condition main effects emerged for fundamental frequency deviation, vocal SPL, fluent reading rate, and disfluency. The only meaningful between-group difference noted showed that the stutterers were more disfluent than the normals across all conditions. Results were interpreted as supporting Wingate's “modified vocalization” position and were discussed relative to how the vocal changes observed might act to promote fluency.     

Vowel duration in stutterers participating in precision fluency shaping

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which stutters manipulate vowel duration to achieve fluency after participating in Precision Fluency Shaping. Nine stutterers who read an all-voiced sentence fluently before and after therapy were selected for study. Wide-band spectrograms were made of the initial phrase of the sentences, and vowel durations were computed. Results indicated that extended vowel durations were characteristic of the fluency of stutterers posttherapy. The subject that had the highest rate of disfluency after therapy also had the shortest vowel durations. Clinical implications concerning the importance of speech rate during carryover practice are made.