TOPIC

Fluency research

Everything we have read on fluency. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

96 PAPERS · PAGE 1 OF 2 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPOther2016Self-perceived competence and social acceptance of young children who stutter: Initial findings.Journal of communication disordersFour- and five-year-olds who stutter did not rate their general competence or social acceptance lower than fluent peers. However, children who stuttered more often reported feeling less socially accepted, and girls rated competence higher than boys.
• SLPNarrative Review2016Childhood Stuttering: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?Seminars in speech and languageNo tested treatment outcome is reported. This expert review discusses childhood stuttering research and future directions, so it does not change therapy on Monday.
• SLPSurvey2017A comparison of attitudes towards stuttering of non-stuttering preschoolers in the United States and Turkey.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsUS and Turkish non-stuttering preschoolers had nearly identical, generally negative attitudes toward stuttering. The only stuttering belief that differed between countries was whether stuttering comes from God/Allah. Neither group had much real-world contact with people who stutter.
• SLPOther2017Dysphonia in adults with developmental stuttering: A descriptive study.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsMost adults with developmental stuttering in this study of 20 people showed voice problems. Their voices were often strained or weak, and measured voice scores were low. Stuttering severity tended to match poorer voice scores. No treatment was tested.
• SLPCohort2018Anomalous network architecture of the resting brain in children who stutter.Journal of fluency disordersChildren who stutter had less coordinated connectivity in a resting brain network and unusual links with attention and movement networks. One early pattern was associated with stuttering that did not recover. No clinical test or treatment is shown.
• SLPCohort2018Planum temporale asymmetry in people who stutter.Journal of fluency disordersBrain scans of 130 people showed no difference in the size or left-right asymmetry of a speech-processing brain region between those who stutter and those who do not. This finding does not support the theory that atypical brain structure causes stuttering.
• SLPOther2017The effect of phonetic complexity on the speed of single-word productions in adults who do and do not stutter.Journal of communication disordersPhonetic complexity did not slow single-word naming overall. Adults who stutter were slower than adults who do not stutter, and complex words were named more slowly only when word frequency and neighborhood properties were high.
• SLPOther2018Young children's family history of stuttering and their articulation, language and attentional abilities: An exploratory study.Journal of communication disordersYoung children who stuttered and those who did not did not differ significantly in family history of stuttering. Among children who did not stutter, a positive family history of stuttering was associated with family history of ADHD and lower language scores within normal range.
• SLPOther2018Spectral Coefficient Analyses of Word-Initial Stop Consonant Productions Suggest Similar Anticipatory Coarticulation for Stuttering and Nonstuttering Adults.Language and speechFluent /t/ productions by adults who stutter and adults who do not showed the same vowel-related anticipatory coarticulation. The upcoming vowel changed the consonant’s burst similarly in both groups, but stuttering status did not distinguish them.
• SLPCase-Control2018Executive function and childhood stuttering: Parent ratings and evidence from a behavioral task.Journal of fluency disordersPreschool children who stutter did not differ from fluent peers on a behavioral executive function task overall. Parents rated them lower in working memory and shifting, and flagged more everyday executive function concerns.
• SLPOther2018Expressed parental concern regarding childhood stuttering and the Test of Childhood Stuttering.Journal of communication disordersParents who expressed concern rated more speech disfluencies on the TOCS, and their children stuttered more in a 300-word sample, but non-stuttered disfluencies and utterance length did not differ by concern. Higher reported reactions to stuttering were linked to shorter utterances.
• SLPCohort2018The effect of emotion on articulation rate in persistence and recovery of childhood stuttering.Journal of fluency disordersChildren whose stuttering persisted slowed their speech after a negative video, while children who later recovered and nonstuttering children did not. For therapists, speech-rate change after negative emotion may be a marker to watch, not a tested treatment effect.
• SLPCase-Control2018Cortical associates of emotional reactivity and regulation in childhood stuttering.Journal of fluency disordersYoung children who stutter showed stronger brain responses to unpleasant pictures than peers who do not stutter. Those with higher self-regulation scores had weaker responses to these negative images. This links stuttering to heightened emotional reactivity, not necessarily a deficit in regulating emotions.
• SLPPilot2018A pilot study to determine the feasibility of a cluster randomised controlled trial of an intervention to change peer attitudes towards children who stutter.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsThe classroom stuttering programme did not show a clear overall change in peer attitudes at 1 or 6 months. One verbal interaction subscale showed a positive shift at 6 months. The pilot suggests a future trial may be feasible, not proof the programme works.
• SLPCase-Control2018Use of a phoneme monitoring task to examine lexical access in adults who do and do not stutter.Journal of fluency disordersAdults who stutter showed no significant difficulty accessing verbs versus nouns. However, they made significantly more errors when monitoring for phonemes in the middle of words compared to the start. This suggests a specific weakness in processing word-internal sounds rather than general lexical retrieval.
• SLPNarrative Review2018What Are Predictors for Persistence in Childhood Stuttering?Seminars in speech and languageAt age 4 to 5, boys with family history, poor nonword repetition, a weighted disfluency score of 10 or more, and negative speech attitudes are more likely to keep stuttering. No single factor decides risk.
• SLPQualitative2018Self-report of self-disclosure statements for stuttering.Journal of fluency disordersMost adults who stutter said their own disclosure statements explained stuttering, but most chose simple statements like 'I stutter' when selecting prewritten options. They most often disclosed in job interviews and at conversation starts. SLPs reported helping clients with tailored statements that explain stuttering.
• SLPCohort2019Differences in the relation between temperament and vocabulary based on children's stuttering trajectories.Journal of communication disordersChildren who stutter had lower word-understanding scores when parents rated them as more emotionally negative. This link was not seen in children who did not stutter. It did not separate children who persisted from those who recovered.
• SLPOther2019The working alliance in stuttering treatment: a neglected variable?International journal of language & communication disordersAdults who felt aligned with their therapist on tasks and goals early in treatment reported better stuttering outcomes six months later. Agreement on what to work on mattered more than the emotional bond alone. This suggests explicitly negotiating therapy tasks and goals may support better results.
• SLPNarrative Review2019The Role of Executive Function in Developmental Stuttering.Seminars in speech and languageExisting research on executive function in children who stutter is inconsistent, with some studies showing deficits in inhibition and working memory while others find none. The authors propose a theoretical model linking these cognitive skills to speech production, but no clinical effect is demonstrated.
• SLPOther2019Limited Pre-Speech Auditory Modulation in Individuals Who Stutter: Data and Hypotheses.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRAdults who stutter show absent pre-speech auditory modulation when speaking normally. However, adding a 100ms delay to their auditory feedback activates this modulation, eliminating the difference between stuttering and non-stuttering speakers. This suggests the deficit is specific to typical feedback conditions.
• SLPOther2020Lexical diversity and lexical skills in children who stutter.Journal of fluency disordersChildren who stutter scored lower on standardized vocabulary tests than matched peers, but showed no difference in lexical diversity during spontaneous conversation. Both groups remained within the normal range. This suggests subtle weaknesses appear in structured testing, not natural speech.
• SLPOther2020A parent-report scale of behavioral inhibition: Validation and application to preschool-age children who do and do not stutter.Journal of fluency disordersPreschoolers who stutter scored higher on behavioral inhibition than fluent peers. Higher inhibition correlated with greater stuttering frequency and severity. In children over four, inhibition also linked to more negative communication attitudes and stronger reactions to stuttering.
• SLPCase Report2020A descriptive analysis of assessment measures on the effectiveness of a comprehensive stuttering intervention approach: A single case study.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsIn one adult man who stutters, a seven-month comprehensive approach combining fluency shaping and stuttering modification reduced stuttering severity and impact scores. Self-acceptance improved. This describes one person's experience, not proof the treatment works.
• SLPOther2020Inhibitory Control of Lexical Selection in Adults who Stutter.Journal of fluency disordersAdults who stutter showed a larger delay naming pictures with multiple word options than fluent adults, suggesting difficulty selecting words. However, their general ability to suppress unrelated distractions was intact. This points to a specific language planning issue, not a global attention deficit.
• SLPOther2020Stuttering therapy through telepractice in Turkey: A mixed method study.Journal of fluency disordersTelepractice and in-person stuttering therapy in Turkish adults reduced stuttering similarly for spontaneous speech and telephone calls; reading showed a difference, but most severity measures did not differ. Nine of ten telepractice participants found it suitable.
• SLPOther2020Visual exogenous and endogenous attention and visual memory in preschool children who stutter.Journal of fluency disordersPreschoolers who stutter tracked moving shapes less accurately than non-stuttering peers and remembered them less well, even without language demands. Both groups did worse when the target was less distinctive.
• SLPCohort2020Manual response inhibition and quality of life in adults who stutter.Journal of communication disordersAdults who stutter showed slower manual response inhibition than non-stuttering adults. Within the stuttering group, lower quality of life scores predicted slower inhibition, but overt stuttering severity did not. This links cognitive control deficits to psychosocial impact rather than speech disfluency.
• SLPCase-Control2021Identifying developmental stuttering and associated comorbidities in electronic health records and creating a phenome risk classifier.Journal of fluency disordersStuttering cases were hard to find in hospital records, but notes plus review confirmed them and found more frequent diagnosis groups for speech, developmental, sleep, hearing, allergy, infection and neurological conditions.
• SLPOther2021Speech Movement Variability in People Who Stutter: A Vocal Tract Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRDuring fluent nonsense-word repetition, adults who stutter had more variable lip, tongue and soft palate movements than fluent controls. They also took longer on longer or more complex words. Variability did not track stuttering severity.
• SLPOther2021Cognitive control of action naming in adults who stutter.Journal of fluency disordersAdults who stutter took longer to name actions with ambiguous labels than typically fluent adults. Unlike fluent speakers, they did not show brain activity linked to general inhibition, but relied on focal attention and individual differences in selective inhibition to manage the competing word options.
• SLPCohort2021Complex nonverbal response inhibition and stopping impulsivity in childhood stuttering.Journal of fluency disordersPreschoolers who stutter were less accurate and slower at a nonverbal tapping task than fluent peers. Boys who stutter produced significantly more extra taps, indicating difficulty stopping an action. These group differences suggest a domain-general weakness in inhibition, not just speech.
• SLPOther2021Adults who stutter do not stutter during private speech.Journal of fluency disordersTwenty-three adults who stutter produced only seven stuttered syllables in over 10,000 syllables of private speech. This suggests stuttering may be triggered by the perception of a listener rather than the speech mechanism itself.
• SLPOther2021Treatment clinical trial - three types - for children with fluency disorders and stuttering.CoDASPositive progress on stuttering measures was recorded in 12 of 19 Green Program children, 17 of 25 Yellow Program children, and 36 of 49 Red Program children. The study did not report a control group, so the treatment effect is uncertain.
• SLPCohort2022White matter correlates of sensorimotor synchronization in persistent developmental stuttering.Journal of communication disordersAdults who stutter showed different brain wiring for timing tasks than fluent speakers. In those who stuttered, better synchronization to a beat was linked to cerebellar connections, whereas in fluent speakers it was linked to frontal-temporal connections. This suggests stutterers may rely more on the cerebellum for timing.
• SLPQualitative2022Microaggression and the adult stuttering experience.Journal of communication disordersAdults who stutter described frequent microaggressions, particularly patronizing comments like "slow down" and being treated as helpless or less intelligent. Many also reported feeling abandoned by speech therapy or judged by clinicians. Participants often excused these behaviors to avoid appearing overly sensitive.
• SLPOther2022The effect of gap duration on the perception of fluent versus disfluent speech.Journal of fluency disordersListeners judged speech disfluent when gaps between words reached 126.46 ms. Speech-language pathologists required longer gaps to label speech disfluent than people who stutter did. This suggests clinical training may make SLPs less sensitive to subtle pauses than patients themselves.
• SLPQualitative2022Examining the understandings of young adult South African men who stutter: The question of disability.International journal of language & communication disordersSouth African men who stutter described their speech as a disability when social barriers limited their careers or independence. They rejected the label when they could control their speech or pass as fluent. The distinction between a medical defect and a social disability depended on the individual's ability to navigate societal expectations.
• SLPCohort2023Lidcombe Program translation to community clinics in Australia and England.International journal of language & communication disordersCommunity speech therapists in Australia and England achieved stuttering reduction outcomes similar to those in randomized trials. Interestingly, clinicians who deviated from the treatment manual due to workplace pressures still achieved these results at 9 months. This suggests the Lidcombe Program is robust to therapist drift in the short term.
• SLPOther2022Auditory feedback control in adults who stutter during metronome-paced speech II. Formant Perturbation.Journal of fluency disordersMetronome pacing changed how adults who stutter and adults who do not stutter responded to shifted vowel feedback. Adults who stutter responded when paced, while adults who do not stutter did not. They also produced fewer disfluencies in paced speech.
• SLPPilot2022The influence of active listening on parents' perceptions of clinical empathy in a stuttering assessment: A preliminary study.Journal of communication disordersParents of children who stutter rated a clinician as significantly more empathic when she used high eye contact and paraphrased the parent's concern during the first minute of an interview. This effect held regardless of the parent's age, education, or level of worry.
• SLPOther2023Auditory feedback control in adults who stutter during metronome-paced speech I. Timing Perturbation.Journal of fluency disordersWhen speakers heard their own /s/ sound slowed slightly, adults who stutter adjusted timing like fluent adults. Metronome pacing reduced stuttering in adults who stutter, but did not change the total timing adjustment.
• SLPCohort2023A study of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and stuttering persistence.Journal of communication disordersResting breathing-linked heart-rate variability did not differ among children who stuttered and persisted, recovered, or did not stutter. During a speaking task after a neutral video, persisting children showed less change in this measure than non-stuttering children.
• SLPOther2023Behavioral and cognitive-affective features of stuttering in preschool-age children: Regression and exploratory cluster analyses.Journal of fluency disordersIn preschoolers who stutter, overt speech behaviors are highly intercorrelated, but child-reported negative attitudes often lack significant links to specific behavioral measures. Cluster analysis identified a smaller subgroup with more severe behavioral and affective features.
• SLPSystematic Review2023Behavioral assessment of auditory processing in adulthood: population of interest and tests - a systematic review.CoDASMost adults with conditions like diabetes or noise exposure show poorer auditory processing than healthy peers. However, few studies track how these skills decline with normal aging, and diagnostic criteria vary widely, making it hard to compare results across clinics.
• SLPCohort2023Effects of behavior inhibition on stuttering severity and adverse consequences of stuttering in 3-6-year-old children who stutter.Journal of communication disordersIn young children who stutter, a shy, cautious temperament did not predict how often they stuttered at home. It did predict more physical tension and struggle during moments of stuttering, suggesting temperament shapes how children cope with disfluencies rather than causing them.
• SLPCase Series2023Intensive speech-language pathology therapy with adults who stutter: preliminary study.CoDASFour adults who stuttered showed lower stuttering disfluency percentages after 30 intensive therapy hours, but everyday communication ratings worsened for some. The paper reports only before-and-after measurements, with no follow-up.
• SLPQualitative2023Why do people who stutter attend stuttering support groups?The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsPeople who stutter attended support groups to find acceptance, reduce isolation, and learn coping strategies from peers. They valued a safe environment where they were not judged and appreciated speech-language therapists who collaborated with them rather than just observing.
• SLPCase Report2023Eye movement as a simple, cost-effective tool for people who stutter: A case study.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsIn a young man who stuttered, five weeks of online eye-movement training, daily text messages, and continued use of earlier self-help techniques were followed by lower stuttering severity and better self-rated experience at 24 months. This describes a single person, not proof the method works.
• SLPPilot2024A pilot study of an online self-compassion intervention for adults who stutter.International journal of speech-language pathologyTen adults who stutter finished an online self-compassion program and reported less self-judgment and isolation, more mindfulness, and reduced stuttering impact on daily communication and quality of life. This is pilot evidence, not proof the program works.