title: The disfluent speech of bilingual spanish-english children: considerations for differential diagnosis of stuttering.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The primary purpose of this study was to describe the frequency and types of speech disfluencies that are produced by bilingual Spanish-English (SE) speaking children who do not stutter. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluent speech is mediated by language dominance and/or language produced.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spanish and English narratives (a retell and a tell in each language) were elicited and analyzed relative to the frequency and types of speech disfluencies produced. These data were compared with the monolingual English-speaking guidelines for differential diagnosis of stuttering.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean frequency of stuttering-like speech behaviors in the bilingual SE participants ranged from 3% to 22%, exceeding the monolingual English standard of 3 per 100 words. There was no significant frequency difference in stuttering-like or non-stuttering-like speech disfluency produced relative to the child's language dominance. There was a significant difference relative to the language the child was speaking; all children produced significantly more stuttering-like speech disfluencies in Spanish than in English.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results demonstrate that the disfluent speech of bilingual SE children should be carefully considered relative to the complex nature of bilingualism.
authors.forename: Courtney T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Byrd
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bedore
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ramos
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D019303:Multilingualism; D033262:Narration; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013342:Stuttering / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013781:Texas