Training of sensorimotor skills in stuttering children

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental speech motor disorder characterized by dysfluencies. There is no consensus yet on the underlying causes of this disorder, but one hypothesis suggests that people who stutter have impaired rhythmic and timing abilities. Stuttering symptoms can be reduced for example when speaking to a metronome or reading aloud with other people. This reduction in stuttering may be explained by an external rhythmization of speech which may result in improved speech fluency, and compensate for impaired internal timing mechanisms. Recent research shows that people who stutter have deficits in integrating auditory and motor information during speech production. They also show alterations of auditory-motor integration in non-verbal tasks, such as manual sensorimotor synchronization (SMS; for example tapping with the index finger to the rhythm of music or tones). However, studies regarding non-verbal SMS tasks in adults who stutter and their fluent peers reveal inconsistent findings and only a few results have been obtained with children who stutter so far. The first aim of the present project is to determine whether or not children who stutter from the ages of eight to twelve show impaired sensorimotor synchronisation abilities.

Faculty Supervisor:

Simone Falk

Student:

Partner:

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Information and Communications Technology; Education

University:

Université de Montréal

Program: