A Longitudinal Analysis on the Duration of Utterance in a Conversational Turn and Turn-Switching Pause in Preschool Children who Stutter during Interactions with Their Mothers

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate, longitudinally, the duration of utterance in a conversational turn, duration of turn-switching pause, and frequency of disfluency which young children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS) showed during interactions with their mothers. Methods: Subjects for this study consisted of 2-5 year old CWS (male 2 and female 4), an age-matched group of CWNS (male 3 and female 3), and their mothers. Frequencies of normal disfluency (ND) and abnormal disfluency (AD), and duration of utterance in a conversational turn and duration of turn-switching pause were measured two times (initial visit and 12 months later) over the course of one year. Results: At initial visit, a significant group difference was found in frequency of AD. However, no significant difference was observed in duration of utterance in a conversational turn and duration of turn-switching pause both between two parent groups and between two child groups at initial visit and 12 months later. In the CWS group, at initial visit, a positive correlation was found between frequency of AD and mother’s duration of utterance in a conversational turn. Frequency of AD was negatively correlated with both duration of turn-switching pause of mothers and that of children. After 12 months, there was a negative correlation between frequency of AD and mother’s duration of utterance in a conversational turn. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the longitudinal study of individual characteristics of CWS · mothers interactions can help speech-language pathologists to identify the interactional factors related to the recovery or persistence of stuttering and to enhance the efficacy of parent · child interaction therapy for CWS.