Understanding Child Language Fluency Disorders Through Research

Presenter: Rebecca Rollman, Hearing and Speech Sciences, Global Public Health Scholars

For my practicum project I am working in the Language Fluency Lab in the Hearing and Speech Sciences Department. I started the training over winter break and now I am beginning to start the work. Because of COVID, some of the testing cannot happen, but my main project is to work on transcribing videos and editing transcripts of children with fluency disorders like stuttering or late speakers. There are bi-weekly lab meetings that I attend in addition to the transcribing. I think that this relates to global health because it says a lot about a child and their speaking patterns when identifying when they stutter the most and what specific words they stutter on. That is what I will be identifying as I start to work with more transcripts and turn that into my practicum project. It is very interesting to me too learn about the triggers and see how this can help child speech pathologists and influence other research in the future.

8 Comments

angietayel

May 05, 2021

Is there a specific reason as to why stuttering is more prominent in boys and black students? Why do only a portion of kids outgrow their stuttering, while it remains lifelong for others?

Rebecca Rollman

May 09, 2021

Replying to

Hi Angie,

That is a great question. A lot of language disorders still have a lot of aspects unknown, especially stuttering. Stuttering is a disorder that is very complex, but hard to know the origin and why there are so many differences between types of people. The more research that is done, the more concrete answer can be given.

hgauck

May 05, 2021

I love this topic and I think the research you conducted is very interesting! You mentioned how speaking calmly to the children can reduce their stuttering; is there any significant evidence to this or is this something that the researchers just experienced first hand?

Rebecca Rollman

May 09, 2021

Replying to

Hi! Thank you very much! That is a great question, there is evidence that speaking calmly does help because a young child will mimic the behavior and speaking pattern of an adult. If a child speaks more calm and slower, it does not mean that their stuttering goes away completely, but it will happen less often and the child will be more in control of their voice and speaking pattern.

Anastasia Lukyanov

May 01, 2021

Very interesting topic! One thing you bring up was how stuttering was far more common in male children, so I was wondering if your research went into why this could be. Was there any insight as to what could be causing such a large discrepency?

Rebecca Rollman

May 05, 2021

Replying to

Hi Anastasia,

Unfortunately my research did not go into specifically why stuttering is more common in males. However, when speaking about it in certain classes and researching online it was found that there could be a genetic link. Also, females are more likely to "outgrow" stuttering which is why is is seen that more male children are the one's who stutter.

Kelly Biglin

Apr 30, 2021

Your poster is very informative and your topic is very interesting and unique! Based on your research, are there any actions you think should be implemented across pre-schools and elementary schools to help students who stutter?

Rebecca Rollman

May 05, 2021

Replying to

Hi Kelly,

Thank you! I think that some actions that could be implemented are more activities for the speech pathologist to implement with the children. I think in general, even if a pre-schooler or elementary school aged kid does not stutter, they all need improvement in speaking. There should be activities and exercises to involve the whole class and to not single any students out or make them more embarrassed about how they speak.