Stuttering children and the probability of remission - the role of cerebral dominance and speech production

Objective: The identification of critical characteristics which might predi ct whether childhood stuttering will become chronic. Part of the study inve stigates the relationship between hearing and central processing of acousti c stimuli, cerebral dominance and the clinical course of the stuttering. Me thods: A prospective study of 79 stuttering children aged 3-9 years. The su bjects were examined with regard to their cerebral dominance in various tes ts of laterality, their peripheral hearing and their ability to discriminat e sound using the dichotic discrimination test according to Uttenweiler (V. Uttenweiler, Dichotischer Diskriminationstest fur Kinder, Sprache Stimme G ehor 4 (1980) 107-111). Results were correlated with the probability of rem ission of stuttering. Comparisons were made with a control group of 18 chil dren of kindergarten age with normal speech. The period of investigation wa s 18 months. Results: Seventy-two children underwent follow-up examinations . Of these, 36 achieved fluency of speech. The results of the dichotic disc rimination test showed no relation to the rate of remission. When the relat ionship between handedness and stuttering was investigated, it was found th at left-handed children had a significantly poorer chance of attaining spee ch fluency. Conclusions: The Uttenweiler test allowed no prognostic evaluat ion of the future course of stuttering in the age group studied, though aud itory dominance was not completely developed in a majority of the 3-6 year- old children. Handedness, however, appears to be related to the probability that stuttering will become chronic. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Scienc e Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.