Simultaneously Treating Stuttering and Disordered Phonology in Children: Experimental Treatment, Preliminary Findings
Publication: American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
Volume 2, Number 3
Pages 72-81
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to describe treatment designed to simultaneously treat disordered phonology and stuttering in children who exhibit both disorders and to compare changes in stuttering that result from this treatment to changes observed in treatment designed for children who exhibit stuttering but not disordered phonology. Subjects were eight monolingual, English-speaking children: 4 boys who exhibited both stuttering and disordered phonology (mean age=69.7 months) and who participated in a stuttering-phonology (SP) treatment group, as well as 3 boys and 1 girl who exhibited only stuttering (mean age=71.5 months) and who participated in a stuttering (S) treatment group. Both treatment groups met weekly in 1-hour group treatment sessions for one calendar year. Results indicate that stuttering behavior changed appreciably for 2 of the children in the SP treatment group and for 3 children in the S group. In addition, 3 of the children in the SP group made appreciable changes in their phonological processes. Findings are taken to suggest that simultaneously treating childhood stuttering and disordered phonology is both feasible and effective, but there remains a need for further refinement in the methods used to treat the two disorders when they co-occur in children.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Beitchman, J., Nair, R., Clegg, M., & Patel, P. (1986). Prevalence of speech and language disorders in 5-year-old kindergarten children in the Ottawa-Carleton Region. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 51, 98–110.
Bernstein Ratner, N. (1992) Measurable outcomes of instructions to modify normal parent-child verbal interactions: Implications for indirect stuttering treatment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 14–20.
Comas, R. (1974). Tartamudez o espasmofemia funcional. Relato y aportes conceptuales. Revista Cubana de Pediatria, 46, 595–605.
Conture, E. (1990a). Childhood stuttering; What is it and who does it. In J. A. Cooper (Ed.), ASHA Reports, 18, Research need in stuttering: Roadblocks and future directions (pp. 2–18). Rockville, MD: ASHA.
Conture, E. (1990b). Stuttering (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Conture, E. G., & Caruso, A. (1987). Assessment and diagnosis of childhood disfluency. In L. Rustin, D. Rowley, & H. Purser (Eds.), Progress in the treatment of fluency disorders (pp. 57–82). London: Taylor and Francis.
Dell, G. (1986). A spreading-activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychology Review, 93, 283–321.
Dell, G., & Juliano, C. (1991). Connectionist approaches to the production of words. In H. F. M. Peters, W. Hulstijn, & C. W. Starkweather (Eds.), Speech motor control and stuttering (pp. 57–82). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.
Edwards, M. L., & Shriberg, L. D. (1983). Phonology-Applications in communicative disorders. San Diego: College-Hill Press.
Edwards, M. L., Kelman-Maziuk, M., & Louko, L. (1991. November). Preschool phonology groups: Maximizing remediation efficiency. Presented at the annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Atlanta.
Goldman, R., & Fristoe, M. (1969). The Goldman-Fristoe test of articulation. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Grunwell, P. (1982). Clinical phonology. Rockville, MD: Aspen Systems.
Hodson, B., & Paden, E. (1983). Targeting intelligible speech: A phonological approach to remediation. San Diego: College Hill Press.
Hodson, B. W., & Paden, E. P. (1991). Targeting intelligible speech: A phonological approach to remediation. (2nd ed.). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Kelly, E., & Conture, E. (1991). Intervention with school-age stutterers: A parent-child fluency group approach. Seminars in Speech and Language, 12, 309–322.
Kelly, E., & Conture, E. (1992). Speaking rates, response time latencies, and interrupting behaviors of young stutterers. nonstutterers, and their mothers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 1256–1267.
Kolk, H. (1991). Is stuttering a symptom of adaptation or of impairment? In H. F. M. Peters, W. Hulstijn, & C. W. Starkweather (Eds.), Speech motor control and stuttering (pp. 131–140). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.
Kolk, H., Conture, E., Postma, A., & Louko, L. (1991. November). The covert-repair hypothesis and childhood stuttering. Paper presented at the annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Atlanta.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Logan, K., & Conture, E. (1992, November). Relationship between utterance length, complexity, rate, and fluency in young stutterers ’ conversational speech. Paper presented at the annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, San Antonio, TX.
Louko, L. J., Wolk, L., Edwards, M. L., & Conture, E. G. (1989. November). When stuttering and disordered phonology co-occur: Suggestions for intervention. Miniseminar presented at the annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, St. Louis, MO.
Louko, L., Edwards, M. L., & Conture, E. (1990). Phonological characteristics of young stutterers and their normally fluent peers: Preliminary observations. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 15, 191–210.
McReynolds, L. V., & Elbert, M. (1981). Criteria for phonological process analysis. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 46, 197–204.
Merits-Patterson, R., & Reed, C. (1981). Disfluencies in the speech of language-delayed children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 24, 55–58.
Nippold, M. (1990). Concomitant speech and language disorders in stuttering children: A critique of the literature. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 55, 51–60.
Postma, A., Kolk, H., & Povel, D-J. (1990). Speech planning and execution in stutterers. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 15, 49–59.
Postma, A., Kolk, H., & Povel, D-J. (1991). Disfluencies resulting from covert self-repairs applied to internal speech errors. In H. F. M. Peters, W. Hulstijn, & C. W. Starkweather (Eds.), Speech motor control and stuttering (pp. 141–147). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.
Riley, G. (1980). Stuttering severity instrument for young children (rev. éd.). Tigard, OR: C.C. Publications.
Shriberg, L. D., & Kwiatkowski, J. (1982). Phonological disorders III. A procedure for assessing severity of involvement. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 47, 256–270.
St. Louis, K., Hinzman, A., & Mason, N. (1988). A descriptive study of speech, language and hearing characteristics of school-aged stutterers. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 13, 331–355.
Stephenson-Opsal, D., & Bernstein Ratner, N. (1988). Maternal speech rate modification and childhood stuttering. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 13, 49–56.
Stoel-Gammon, C., & Dunn, C. (1985). Normal and disordered phonology in children. Baltimore: University Park Press.
Tyler, A. A., Edwards, M. L., & Saxman, J. S. (1987). Clinical application of two phonologically based treatment procedures. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 393–109.
Weiner, F. F. (1979). Phonological process analysis. Baltimore: University Park Press.
Weiner, F. F. (1981). Treatment of phonological disability using the method of meaningful minimal contrast: Two case studies. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 46, 91–103.
Weiss, C. E. (1979). Weiss comprehensive articulation test. Boston: Teaching Resources Corp.
Wolk, L., Conture, E., & Edwards, M. L. (1990). Comorbidity of stuttering and disordered phonology in young children. South African Journal of Communication Disorders, 37, 15–20.
Wolk, L., Edwards, M. L., & Conture, E. (in press). Coexistence of stuttering and disordered phonology in young children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research.
Zebrowski, P., & Conture, E. (1989). Judgments of disfluency by mothers of stuttering and normally fluent children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 32, 625–634.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
History
- Received: Jun 8, 1992
- Accepted: May 5, 1993
- Published in issue: Sep 1, 1993
Keywords
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Article Metrics
View all metricsCitations
Download article citation data for:
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.
Citing Literature
- Rachael Unicomb, Sally Hewat, Elisabeth Harrison, Evaluating the Treatment of Co-occurring Stuttering and Speech Sound Disorder, Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology, 10.1080/22087168.2019.12370257, 21, 2, (100-107), (2024).
- Yael Neumann, A case study of bilingual neurogenic stuttering: Measures of fluency, emotion, and articulation rate, Journal of Communication Disorders, 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2023.106385, 107, (106385), (2024).
- Cara Singer, Ellianne Martin, Treating a Young Child Who Stutters' Lateral Lisp: A Case Study, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 10.1044/2023_PERSP-22-00133, 8, 5, (886-896), (2023).
- Babette Maessen, Inge Zink, Bea Maes, Ellen Rombouts, The effect of manual movements on stuttering in individuals with down syndrome, Journal of Fluency Disorders, 10.1016/j.jfludis.2023.105958, 75, (105958), (2023).
- 7 Preschool-Age Children, Stuttering and Related Disorders of Fluency, 10.1055/b-0042-189418, (2022).
- 1 Common Characteristics, Stuttering and Related Disorders of Fluency, 10.1055/b-0042-189412, (2022).
- Shari L. DeVeney, Kristina Peterkin, Facing a Clinical Challenge: Limited Empirical Support for Toddler Speech Sound Production Intervention Approaches, Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 10.1044/2022_LSHSS-21-00104, 53, 3, (659-674), (2022).
- Rachael Unicomb, Sally Hewat, Elisabeth Harrison, Treating children with co-occurring stuttering and speech sound disorder: a long-term follow up study, Speech, Language and Hearing, 10.1080/2050571X.2020.1801021, 25, 2, (99-111), (2020).
- Rachael Unicomb, Elaina Kefalianos, Sheena Reilly, Fallon Cook, Angela Morgan, Prevalence and features of comorbid stuttering and speech sound disorder at age 4 years, Journal of Communication Disorders, 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2020.105976, 84, (105976), (2020).
- Geoffrey A. Coalson, Courtney T. Byrd, Shanley B. Treleaven, Lillian Dang, Segmental and metrical complexity during non-word repetition in adults who stutter, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 10.1080/02699206.2018.1504988, 33, 3, (256-278), (2018).
View Options
Sign In Options
ASHA member? If so, log in with your ASHA website credentials for full access.
Member Login