title: The Relationship Between Grammatical Development and Disfluencies in Preschool Children Who Stutter and Those Who Recover.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The dual diathesis stressor model indicates that a mismatch between a child's endogenous linguistic abilities and exogenous linguistic contexts is one factor that contributes to stuttering behavior. In the present study, we used a developmental framework to investigate if reducing the gap between endogenous and exogenous linguistics factors would result in less disfluency for typical children, children who recover from stuttering (CWS-R), and children who persist.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children between 28 and 43 months of age participated in this study: 8 typical children, 5 CWS-R, and 8 children who persist. The children were followed for 18 months with language samples collected every 6 months. The Index of Productive Syntax (Scarborough, 1990) served as a measure of endogenous grammatical ability. Length and complexity of active declarative sentences served as a measure of exogenous linguistic demand. A hierarchical linear model analysis was conducted using a mixed-model approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results partially corroborate the dual diathesis stressor model. Disfluencies significantly decreased in CWS-R as grammatical abilities (not age) increased. Language development may serve as a protective factor or catalyst for recovery for CWS-R. As grammatical ability grew and the gap between linguistic ability and demand decreased; however, none of the three groups was more likely to produce disfluencies in longer and more complex utterances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Loma Linda University, CA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hollister
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
authors.forename: Amanda Owen
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Van Horne
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zebrowski
mesh_terms: D001039:Aphasia, Broca / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013070:Speech Therapy; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013342:Stuttering / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy