Effects of Emotional Processes on Speech Motor Control in Early Childhood Stuttering.

The Influence of Contextual and Constitutional Emotional Processes on Speech Motor Control and Speech Motor Learning in Early Childhood Stuttering

This study will compare speech variability between preschool-age children who stutter and typically fluent, age-matched peers. Differences in emotional reactivity, regulation and speech motor control have been implicated in stuttering development in children. This study seeks to understand further how these processes interact. Children will repeat a simple phrase after viewing age-appropriate images of either negative or neutral valence to assess speech motor control.

Stuttering is a developmental disorder that emerges in the preschool years as children are undergoing rapid development of their speech, language, and emotional regulation processes. This study aims to understand how speech motor control and emotional processes interact in young children who do and do not stutter.

In Aim 1, the investigators will be observing how speech motor control and learning are affected by emotional (physiological) arousal. High arousal (e.g., stress) has been shown to disrupt highly skilled performances such as in sports and music performance (Yoshie et al., 2009). Parents of children who stutter often report that that exciting or stressful situations lead to increased stuttering in their children. There is little research, however, on how excitement or stress affects fluency in children.

In Aim 2, the investigators will observe how behavioral inhibition plays a role in speech motor control and motor learning in the context of emotional processes. Behavioral inhibition is one aspect of a child's temperament. Temperament refers to self-regulation as well as emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity that differs among individuals. Children with high behavioral inhibition (BI) are hyper-vigilant and more sensitive to new stimuli and negative emotional states. Therefore, the purpose of Aim 2 is to see if children with high BI are more susceptible to contextual emotional processes, therefore affecting speech motor control and learning.

Outcomes will be measured by calculating the variability in speech motor movements (STI). The two groups, children who stutter and age-matched peers who do not stutter, will be compared to see how speech motor control varies between groups and conditions.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. English as the primary language of communication.
2. No history of neurological diseases or diagnosed speech-language disorders apart from stuttering.
3. Parent report or direct observation of oral-facial structural abnormalities (such as cleft lip and/or cleft palate).
4. Free of any medications that may affect neural functions (e.g., medications of seizures).
5. Normal hearing acuity (must pass a hearing screening).
6. Normal vision per parent report.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Failure to meet the inclusionary criteria listed above
2. Parental report of neurodevelopmental disorders (such as autism spectrum disorders)
3. Parental report of vision problems that are not corrected or corrected with glasses.