Research

Drs. Anne Smith and Christine Weber-Fox in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, are currently recruiting 4- and 5-year-olds for a longitudinal study of children who stutter. Previous research suggests that when children are stuttering at age 4, about ½ of the children recover while the other ½ persist in their stuttering. Drs. Smith and Weber-Fox are working to identify the characteristics that may lead to persistence and recovery. Their focus is on the physiological aspects of stuttering, including speech motor control and neural processing of auditory information using event-related brain potential studies. The studies involve placing some plastic disks (physiological sensors) on the skin or scalp while the child is engaged in speech and nonspeech tasks.

The children will initially be seen for testing when they are 4 - 5 years old, and will be seen yearly for at least three years. At each yearly visit the children will receive a free assessment of their speech, language, and hearing, as well as participating in tasks assessing the physiological measures noted above. Families will receive a written summary of the speech and language results, and will be paid $100.00 per year ($200.00 per year if they live more than 60 miles from Purdue) to help cover time and transportation costs. To be eligible for participation, children must be native speakers of English, have hearing ability within the normal range and no cognitive or neurological difficulties, and display stuttered speech.