NIH awards $3.1M to MSU to study the impact of stuttering on children

Stuttering is most often associated with observable disruptions to the flow of speech, but it can affect much more than how a person talks. Living with stuttering can influence a person’s confidence, relationships, success in school and work, and even their overall quality of life.

Researchers in MSU’s Developmental Speech Laboratory, housed within the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, were recently awarded $3.1 million from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, for a five-year study that aims to understand why some children who stutter experience more negative impacts from their stuttering than others. This research is the first large-scale longitudinal study focused on the development of stuttering’s adverse impact on children.

“We don’t yet understand how the negative effects of stuttering develop in children because we haven’t figured out which personal or environmental factors put some kids at higher risk, or which factors help protect them,” said Bridget Walsh, the lead researcher of the study. “This lack of knowledge makes it harder to intervene early and prevent the serious, long-term problems that stuttering can cause.”

Walsh hopes early support can change the entire trajectory for a child who stutters — and she believes this research has the potential to inform treatment plans and enhance long-term well-being.

“Identifying risk and protective factors underlying the adverse impact of stuttering will allow us to intervene earlier and possibly prevent the life-long consequences seen in adults,” she said. “Understanding risk/protective factors is essential too, for developing timely, effective and personalized treatment for children who stutter,” said Walsh, who is also an associate professor of communicative sciences and disorders and a certified speech-language pathologist.

Walsh and her colleagues were awarded a five-year NIH grant in 2020 to study how stuttering develops in young children, with one part of the study focused specifically on its negative effects. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the group shifted data collection for this aim from in-person to online. This initiative led to the creation of a database of factors related to adverse impact collected from a nationwide sample of children who stutter and their families.

Walsh said she and her team were inspired to take their research further after reading responses from children and parents as part of their previous NIH-funded study.

“Participants in our research shared a wide range of perspectives on stuttering — including positive and negative aspects of living with the condition and the impact that it had on their lives,” she said. “We realized that it was of profound importance to these children and their families to address the development of stuttering’s adverse impact more comprehensively.”

This new grant will build on these findings to explore challenges associated with stuttering with more depth. The team will collect information from children who stutter, parents, and speech-language pathologists, following them over the five years of the study to identify individual and environmental factors that increase risk or provide protection against challenges related to stuttering.

“Findings from this study will help identify risk factors for negative outcomes related to stuttering, enabling earlier and more targeted interventions. The work will also inform counseling and training for parents and speech-language pathologists, ensuring that children who stutter receive support not only for their speech but also for their well-being,” said Walsh.

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