The effects of bilingualism on stuttering during late childhood.
OBJECTIVE
To examine stuttering by children speaking an alternative language exclusively (LE) or with English (BIL) and to study onset of stuttering, school performance and recovery rate relative to monolingual speakers who stutter (MONO).


METHODS
Clinical referral sample with supplementary data obtained from speech recordings and interviews.


METHODS
South-East England, 1999-2007.


METHODS
Children aged 8-12 plus who stuttered (monolingual and bilingual) and fluent bilingual controls (FB).


METHODS
Participants' stuttering history, SATS scores, measures of recovery or persistence of stuttering.


RESULTS
69 (21.8%) of 317 children were bilingual. Of 38 children who used a language other than English at home, 36 (94.7%) stuttered in both languages. Fewer LE (15/38, 39.5%) than BIL (23/38, 60.5%) children stuttered at first referral to clinic, but more children in the fluent control sample were LE (28/38, 73.7%) than BIL (10/38, 26.3%). The association between stuttering and bilingual group (LE/BIL) was significant by chi(2) test; BIL speakers have more chance of stuttering than LE speakers. Age at stuttering onset and male/female ratio for LE, BIL and MONO speakers were similar (4 years 9 months, 4 years 10 months and 4 years 3 months, and 4.1:1, 4.75:1 and 4.43:1, respectively). Educational achievement was not affected by bilingualism relative to the MONO and FB groups. The recovery rate for the LE and MONO controls together (55%) was significantly higher by chi(2) test than for the BIL group (25%).


CONCLUSIONS
BIL children had an increased risk of stuttering and a lower chance of recovery from stuttering than LE and MONO speakers.
Howell
P
P
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK. p.howell@ucl.ac.uk
Davis
S
S
Williams
R
R
D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods; D013342:Stuttering / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013637:Tape Recording
J Fluency Disord. 2006;31(4):257-70
16920188
Clin Psychol Rev. 2007 Apr;27(3):287-306
17156904
J Commun Disord. 2007 Sep-Oct;40(5):398-417
17157866
J Speech Hear Res. 1994 Oct;37(5):1050-9
7823551
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2008 Jun;51(3):669-87
18506043