Beyond stuttering: Speech disfluencies in normally fluent French-speaking children at age 4

The aim of this study was to establish normative data on the speech disfluencies of normally fluent French-speaking children at age 4, an age at which stuttering has begun in 95% of children who stutter (Yairi & Ambrose, 2013). Fifty monolingual French-speaking children who do not stutter participated in the study. Analyses of a conversational speech sample comprising 250–550 words revealed an average of 10% total disfluencies, 2% stuttering-like disfluencies and around 8% non-stuttered disfluencies. Possible explanations for these high speech disfluency frequencies are discussed, including explanations linked to French in particular. The results shed light on the importance of normative data specific to each language

Stuttered and non-stuttered disfluencies in normally fluent, French-speaking preschool children

The criterion of 3% of stuttered disfluencies – (part-)word repetitions, sound prolongations and blocks – is often suggested to diagnose the stuttering in children (e.g., Boey et al., 2007; Yairi & Ambrose, 2005). There is a long-lasting debate among scholars about the relevance of considering monosyllabic word repetitions as stuttered disfluencies, given their high frequency in typically developing children (e.g., Howell, 2013; Wingate, 2001). Yet, these are the prime characteristics that prompt identification of early stuttering by parents (Yairi & Ambrose, 2013). Nevertheless, very few normative data exist concerning the disfluencies occurring in the speech of normally fluent children (Tumanova et al., 2014), and none exist in French. The aim of this study is to examine the need for reference data in French in order to distinguish typical developmental disfluency from stuttering. We used the CHAT transcription system and the coding conventions of FluencyBank to transcribe and analyse the speech disfluencies of twenty monolingual, French speaking children who do not stutter, aged 4 years. FluencyBank (Bernstein-Ratner & MacWhinney) is a shared database for the study of the development of fluency in both normal and disordered populations. It is a project of Talkbank that seeks to archive and facilitate sharing of data relevant to fluency research

Au-delà du bégaiement : Disfluences de la parole chez les enfants tout-venant de 4 ans

The aim of the present study is to establish normative data concerning the speech disfluencies existing in normally fluent children speaking French at age 4, an age at which stuttering has begun in 95% of children who stutter (Yairi & Ambrose, 2013)