PURPOSE:Appropriate assessment of the psychosocial aspects of people who stutter (PWS) is essential for providing effective treatment. However, in Japan, no systematic synthesis is currently available regarding the available self-report measures, the constructs they assess, and their psychometric properties. This study aimed to systematically summarize the self-report psychosocial scales designed for Japanese PWS, as well as the current state of their measurement constructs and psychometric properties. METHODS:Following the PRISMA guidelines, PubMed, PsycINFO, ICHUSHI Web, and CiNii Research were searched on December 6, 2025. Measurement constructs were classified according to the classification proposed by Johnson et al. (2023). The quality of the psychometric properties was assessed by two independent reviewers using the quality criteria proposed by Terwee et al. (2007). RESULTS:Of the 389 records initially retrieved, seven articles validating six scales were included. Regarding the measurement constructs, all six scales (100.0%) assessed the "impact of stuttering" and two scales (33.3%) assessed "speech satisfaction" or "anxiety", whereas no scales measuring "communication attitudes" were identified. In the quality assessment of psychometric properties, positive ratings ("+") were infrequent, accounting for only three of the 54 ratings (5.6%), and "no information on validation" was the most common rating. CONCLUSIONS:Although self-report scales for psychosocial aspects of Japanese PWS exist, the coverage of target populations and measurement constructs is limited, and the verification of psychometric properties remains insufficient. Future research must address clinical needs by appropriately validating unverified properties and promoting knowledge sharing among support providers.
This study explored how people who stutter define and experience recovery, aiming to understand what it means to "live effectively with stuttering" and to evaluate personal narratives as client-based evidence. Using narrative inquiry and thematic analysis, 30 publicly available recovery narratives from SLPs who stutter were analyzed. Narratives were drawn from ASHA convention panels (1996-2019) and examined holistically to identify shared themes and insights. Six themes captured the core dimensions of recovery: (1) the emotional and cognitive work of acceptance, (2) claiming voice through disclosure and visibility, (3) the lifelong and nonlinear nature of living with stuttering, (4) challenging dominant fluency-centered paradigms, (5) the healing power of relationships, and (6) therapy as a co-narrative process. Participants emphasized identity, resilience, and communicative agency over fluency. For this population, living effectively with stuttering was defined not by producing fluency, but by empowerment, authenticity, and connection. These narratives support a paradigm shift toward narrative-informed, client-centered therapy that values lived experience as valid clinical evidence.
BACKGROUND:Stuttering research tends to be researcher-led and there is minimal engagement with adults who stutter to ascertain their research priorities. Research underpinned by the priorities of adults who stutter and which reflects constructs of research engagement has the potential to enhance the translation of research into clinical practice, improve intervention outcomes and empower those who stutter to have a voice in influencing future research directions. PURPOSE:This study aimed to identify: the research priorities of adults who stutter; and the actions that researchers need to undertake in order to support the active participation of adults who stutter in future research activities. This exploratory study represents the first step in executing a larger-scale study on priority setting and partnership between researchers and adults who stutter. METHOD:Recruitment was achieved through study advertisement by stuttering support groups and university-based research centres in Ireland, the UK and Canada, and using social media platforms. A modified online World Café methodology was employed where adults who stutter participated in rounds of discussions. Analysis of participants' data was completed using qualitative content analysis and an iterative member-checking process. RESULTS:Eleven adults who stutter (male: n = 7; female: n = 4) participated in the World Café. Seven themes relating to the participants' research priorities, and three themes relating to actions that researchers can take to support future partnerships with people who stutter were identified. CONCLUSION:Findings of this exploratory study will inform the methodology of a larger study on research priority setting and partnership between researchers and adults who stutter.
Purpose Code-switching is a common phenomenon in bilinguals, but its study in the context of bilinguals who stutter (BWS) remains limited. This preliminary study aims to investigate whether code-switching behaviors contribute to the moment of stuttering in adult bilinguals who stutter. Method 23 Cantonese-English bilingual adults who stutter participated in the study. Natural conversational speech was elicited through a standardized series of questions. The utterances were categorized into 4 types: fluent Cantonese only, stuttered Cantonese only, fluent code-switched utterance and stuttered code-switched utterances. Results The results showed that 78% of the utterances contained code-switching, all of which was intrasentential code-switching. Stuttering was statistically more likely to occur in code-switched utterances than in Cantonese-only utterances. Within code-switched stuttered utterances, 90.57% of stuttering moments occurred in Cantonese words and only 9.43% in English words that were code-switched. Conclusion Stuttering was more likely to occur in code-switched utterances than in Cantonese-only utterances. Interestingly, stuttering is predominantly associated with the base language, Cantonese, and not with the switch points (English), indicating increased cognitive-linguistic demands during speech planning, not just during production.
Purpose This study investigated the relationship between syntactic, lexical and articulation rate development and the onset of stuttering in a young Japanese child from the pre-onset stage. We also examined the linguistic factors influencing stuttering-like disfluency (SLD) immediately after stuttering onset. Methods The case was a female child aged 1 year 11 months at the beginning of the study. Twenty free-play sessions were video-recorded over approximately two years and four months to analyze SLD, physical concomitants, predicate-argument structures, mean length of utterances (MLU), lexical diversity (VocD), and articulation rate. The influence of sentence-level factor (utterance length), and word-level factors (bunsetsu length, and syllable weight) on SLD was also assessed immediately after onset. Results SLD frequency was near zero until the sixth session, and prior to the emergence of predicate-argument structures, SLDs were rarely observed. Stuttering onset occurred two days before the seventh session, at which point SLD frequency increased rapidly alongside the appearance of physical concomitants. During this period, predicate-argument structures and VocD values increased sharply, though MLU and articulation rate did not. Additionally, no significant influences of utterance length, bunsetsu length, and syllable weight were observed immediately after onset. Conclusions Our findings suggest that, at least for the present case, rapid syntactic and lexical development can be associated with stuttering onset. Furthermore, the results imply that selected sentence- and word-level factors might not influence the occurrence of stuttering immediately after onset in this case.
INTRODUCTION:This study investigates the impact of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on non-speech sequential motor practice in adults who stutter (AWS), compared to non-stuttering controls (ANS). Recent research has explored the effects of tDCS on speech fluency in stuttering. However, its effect on non-speech motor tasks has not yet been studied. METHODS:20 AWS and 30 ANS right-handed participants were randomly assigned to anodal or sham tDCS conditions, performing a sequential finger tapping task. We targeted over the right primary motor cortex, stimulating at 2 mA for 20 min. Sequence duration and reaction time were analyzed. RESULTS:AWS analysis revealed that the anodal condition had significantly slower reaction times in the second half of the task compared to sham. For sequence durations, AWS in the anodal condition had slower overall sequence durations than the sham condition. However, there were no block-by-block differences in sequence duration. When comparing AWS and ANS, no significant differences were observed for sequence duration. However, there were significant differences in reaction time between AWS and ANS, specifically in earlier blocks. Additionally, there was no significant Group × Condition interaction. DISCUSSION:The findings suggest that anodal stimulation impeded finger sequencing in AWS, showing overall slower sequence durations and a diminishing effect on reaction times in the second half of the experiment, suggesting anodal tDCS may interact uniquely with the neural mechanisms in stuttering. Future studies should explore the effects of anodal tDCS on non-speech motor tasks to gain a broader understanding of its impact on motor control and motor learning.
This letter responds to recent characterizations of neurodiversity-affirming and anti-ableist frameworks in stuttering in Vanryckeghem’s (2026) position paper. We argue that these frameworks do not reject speech-related goals, intervention, or evidence-based practice. Rather, they question whether apparent fluency should function as the default marker of therapeutic success and emphasize outcomes such as participation, communicative agency, identity, and wellbeing. We also distinguish client-defined speech change from compulsory normalization and call for greater precision in representing neurodiversity scholarship, treatment goals, and the role of norms in stuttering care.
Purpose: Adults who stutter (AWS) show a maladaptive attentional focus when speaking under socially stressful conditions and at the same time, attentional focus has shown to impact articulatory control in this population. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive factors of social anxiety and attentional focus on articulatory control in AWS compared to a group of adults who do not stutter (ANS), varying in social anxiety levels. Method: Seventeen AWS and 23 ANS repeated sentences in a virtual reality environment under a low-and high-socially stressful condition. Attentional focus was unsolicited and allowed to occur naturally and spontaneously. Social stress was measured using skin conductance levels changes (SCLdiff) and an anxiety questionnaire (Anxiety-Q). Attentional focus was measured using the Focus of Attention Questionnaire (FAQ). Speech motor control was assessed by measuring movement duration (DUR) and lip aperture variability using the spatiotemporal index (LA STI). Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the effects of social anxiety (Anxiety-Q, SCLdiff) and attentional focus (FAQ) on speech motor control (DUR, LA STI). Results: Preliminary testing showed significant differences in DUR and LA STI in the AWS compared to ANS. Multiple regression analyses showed increases in anxiety significantly predicted increases in articulatory variability but not DUR for the AWS. No significant associations were found between anxiety and attentional focus, nor for the duration of movement. Conclusion: Results showed social anxiety predicts changes in articulatory variability in AWS when speaking under social stress, while attentional focus plays a lesser, insignificant role.
Despite advancements in stuttering research, the lived experiences of women who stutter (WWS) remain significantly underrepresented. This study explores these multifaceted experiences across educational, professional, relational, psychosocial, identity-related, and personal domains, while also attending to the intersectional dimensions of gender and stuttering that uniquely shape their lives. Drawing on a reflexive thematic analysis of 80 episodes of the Women Who Stutter: Our Stories podcast, the study amplifies women's voices and highlights dimensions of stuttering often overlooked in research and practice. These episodes were recorded between 2010 and 2025. Using reflexive thematic analysis, this study identified four overarching themes: (1) the multifaceted impact of stuttering across life domains; (2) more than fluency: the internal landscape of stuttering; (3) from struggle to strength: women's journey with stuttering; and (4) the power of shared spaces: being a woman in the world of stuttering. Findings highlight how stuttering intersects with gendered expectations, identity formation, social stigma, and mental health. Participants' narratives revealed how disclosure, community connection, and therapeutic validation shaped pathways from concealment to empowerment. This study amplifies the voices of WWS and calls for more intersectional, gender-responsive approaches to stuttering research, therapy, and advocacy.
Purpose: Stuttering can significantly influence individuals' career trajectories through mechanisms such as role entrapment, occupational segregation, job dissatisfaction, and stigma-based discrimination. In professional contexts where verbal fluency is narrowly defined and highly valued, people who stutter (PWS) may face systemic barriers. This study examines how PWS experience, interpret, and negotiate the role of stuttering in recruitment processes, career choices, job roles and opportunities for advancement. Method: An online survey and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) were used to examine responses from 45 Finnish-speaking adults who stutter and have work experience. Results: Participants described restrictive workplace speech norms and expectations of fluency as key constraints that generated cognitive and emotional load. Many reported that stuttering had influenced their career pathways, including not entering preferred fields, although its perceived influence on occupational choices had lessened over time. Speaking-intensive tasks-such as phone work, presentations, and spontaneous verbal interaction-were identified as the most challenging. Fluent speakers were often perceived as gatekeepers who informally determined which roles were considered suitable for PWS, though some participants also self-restricted their job tasks. Experiences were highly situational, and a minority reported positive or empowering aspects of stuttering at work. Conclusion: The study concludes that discrimination often stems not from actual ability but from biased expectations and rigid norms surrounding fluent speech. These norms delay access to preferred professions and constrain career development. Promoting inclusion requires challenging dominant communication standards and recognizing diverse communicative competencies. Enhancing awareness and visibility of PWS in professional environments is essential for systemic change.
PURPOSE:We aimed to psychometrically evaluate a Japanese version of the Disclosure of Stuttering Scale, from Boyle et al. (2018), and identify the psychosocial factors associated with level of stuttering self-disclosure among adults who stutter. METHODS:Adults who stutter were recruited via stuttering self-help groups in Japan and the authors' contacts. Participants completed their demographics, the Disclosure of Stuttering Scale and other psychological scales assessing affective, cognitive, and social aspects of stuttering via an online survey. We analyzed 180 participants after those with unreliable or duplicate responses were excluded. The scale's reliability and validity were confirmed, and multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to predict the score of the Disclosure of Stuttering Scale using demographic variables and psychological measures. RESULTS:The Japanese Disclosure of Stuttering Scale had good internal consistency (ω =.832) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient =.808), with no obvious ceiling or floor effects. Level of self-disclosure of stuttering was lower in the Japanese sample than in the United States sample (Cohen's d = 0.55) reported by Boyle et al. (2018). The regression model revealed that self-reported male gender, self-help group experience, higher self-acceptance, and lower self-stigma were associated with a higher self-disclosure level (adjusted R² =.347). CONCLUSION:Our study indicated that self-reported gender and psychological and social (self-help experience) components were associated with the level of self-disclosure of stuttering. Furthermore, Japanese adults who stutter tended to report lower levels of self-disclosure compared to previous samples, which may reflect sociocultural differences.
BACKGROUND:Social media platforms play an increasing role in how stuttering is represented in public discourse. In Arabic-speaking contexts, little is known about the stuttering-related content available online, including who produces it, what types of advice circulate, and how engagement differs across sources. This study examined Arabic-language stuttering discourse on Instagram, focusing on associations among source identity, advice type, and post-level engagement (likes and comments). METHODS:A structured content analysis was conducted on 500 Arabic-language Instagram posts related to stuttering collected over seven months. Posts were coded for source identity, advice type, and valence. Associations between source identity, advice type, and engagement (likes and comments) were modeled using logistic and negative binomial regression. Qualitative contextual coding was used to interpret recurrent narrative patterns underlying quantitative associations. Intercoder reliability was assessed using Krippendorff's alpha, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate the robustness of model estimates. RESULTS:Non-clinical sources, including special educators and digital content creators, produced the majority of posts (77.4%). Advice type varied significantly by source identity, χ²(8, N = 500) = 102.81, p < .001, Cramér's V = .45, with several non-clinical sources showing substantially higher odds of posting non-evidence-based advice (e.g., AORs ≈ 4.9-7.2). Engagement also differed by source and advice type. Non-evidence-based posts were associated with higher rates of likes (RR = 1.46, p = .004) and comments (RR = 1.39, p = .027), with the highest engagement observed for non-evidence-based posts authored by digital creators. Intercoder reliability ranged from Krippendorff's α = .72-.88 across coded variables. Qualitative contextual coding identified recurring narrative patterns centered on self-acceptance, perseverance, and claims of fluency change, alongside content with varying alignment with clinical perspectives. CONCLUSIONS:Arabic-language Instagram reflects a discourse environment in which stuttering-related information is produced largely by non-clinical sources and engagement does not consistently correspond to clinical expertise. Visibility appears influenced by content characteristics, structural and cultural contexts, and platform dynamics. These findings point to a hybrid credibility system in which professional and experiential perspectives intersect and highlight considerations for digital health communication about stuttering in Arabic-speaking contexts. They also contribute to broader discussions of how health-related information circulates within digital environments.
PURPOSE:This study compared responses to stuttering-related frequently asked questions (FAQs) generated by two versions of ChatGPT (the freely accessible ChatGPT-4 and the subscription-based ChatGPT-4.5), evaluating content, emotional tone, structural organization, and readability. METHOD:A set of 34 FAQs was developed through a two-stage process. First, the authors created an initial pool of questions. Then, 13 adults who stutter rated and refined these items for relevance. Each FAQ was entered once into GPT-4 and GPT-4.5. Responses were grouped into five broad content domains for computational analysis; these domains were identified and refined through thematic analysis. Responses were analyzed using (a) reflexive thematic analysis, (b) computational emotional analysis, and (c) quantitative readability analysis. RESULTS:Both versions produced highly overlapping thematic content, yielding six shared themes. However, systematic cross-version differences emerged in how this content was delivered. GPT-4.5 produced substantially shorter responses (≈63% reduction in length) that were more structured and directive, whereas GPT-4 provided longer and more narrative explanations. Despite increased concision, GPT-4.5 responses were modestly less readable. Emotional profiles were largely congruent across models, dominated by anticipation and trust in therapy and parenting domains, with more neutral affect for causes and variability. CONCLUSIONS:ChatGPT functioned as a first-line explainer for stuttering-related FAQs. It provided generally accurate basic information and often used relatively non-stigmatizing language, while consistently emphasizing the importance of treatment, particularly early intervention for stuttering. Model iteration primarily reshaped how information was framed and accessed rather than substantially changing what was conveyed. These findings underscored the importance of clinician oversight, accessibility considerations, and ethical caution when considering the use of AI-generated content in public health communication about stuttering.
PURPOSE:There is little evidence regarding the impact of therapy with older school aged children who stutter. The aim of this qualitative study was to capture the voices of children and their parents regarding change following Palin Stammering Therapy for School-aged Children (Palin STSC(8-14)). METHOD:Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 children who stutter (aged 12;8-14;9 years) and 15 parents who attended Palin STSC(8-14) in individual weekly family sessions or intensive group therapy. Families were monitored for one year from therapy onset and interviews took place within eight months of the end of the monitoring period. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded, and themes extracted using Thematic Analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001). RESULTS:All participants reported positive change and 25 out of 26 participants said the impact of stuttering was reduced as a direct result of Palin STSC(8-14). Recurrent themes of change included: greater understanding about stuttering, increased confidence, increased child participation and more openness about and acceptance of stuttering. Group therapy participants reported the importance of community, while individual therapy participants reported increased family connection. All aspects of the broad Palin STSC(8-14) therapy programme were reported as valuable. Parents' involvement was viewed as a key contributor to meaningful change. CONCLUSION:Overall, findings showed the perceived gains from this holistic therapy approach for both group and individual family therapy were wide. These findings add to emerging quantitative evidence supporting Palin STSC(8-14) as a beneficial therapy approach for older school aged children who stutter, with children and parents reporting broad and positive changes from the therapy.
PURPOSE:Repetitions, prolongations, and blocks, as canonical categories of stuttering disfluencies, have long been characterized on auditory-perceptual grounds, while the articulatory behaviors giving rise to them remain poorly understood. This study investigates the articulatory basis of these disfluencies, and assesses how the underlying articulatory patterns relate to perceptual disfluency types (i.e., repetitions, prolongations, blocks) and the phonological features of stuttered segments. METHOD:Speech production of seven adults who stutter was recorded using real-time MRI. We extracted the time-varying constriction trajectories of the primary oral articulator for stuttered tokens of labial, alveolar, and velar consonants, as well as the constriction trajectories of the velum. K-medoids clustering with dynamic time warping distance was used to identify recurrent patterns. RESULTS:Two constriction patterns of the primary oral articulator were observed consistently across participants: fixation, characterized by an extended constriction period, and oscillation, characterized by repeated constriction-release cycles. Velic constriction trajectories did not show stuttering-related patterns but simply reflected the nasality of the stuttered segment. The mapping between articulatory constriction patterns and perceptual disfluency types was many-to-one and one-to-many. Crucially, this mapping was influenced by the manner of the stuttered segment. CONCLUSION:State stuttering is characterized by two stable articulatory patterns: fixation and oscillation of the primary oral articulator. Their mappings to perceptual disfluency types are not in a simple one-to-one correspondence and also depend on the phonological task being executed. These findings point to a principled organization in the articulation of stuttering, enriching our understanding of the phenomenon beyond its perceptual surface.
AIMS:Artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly applied to the automatic detection of stuttering, but the literature remains methodologically and conceptually heterogeneous. This review synthesized research on AI-based stuttering detection, examined what these systems are designed to measure, and considered how those targets relate to lived-experience understandings of stuttering. METHODS:Following PRISMA guidelines, 44 studies were included. A narrative synthesis examined study characteristics, datasets, model approaches, task formulations, and evaluation practices. Random-effects meta-analyses pooled reported accuracy (22 studies) and F1 score (13 studies). RESULTS:The literature showed a clear shift from handcrafted acoustic features and traditional machine learning classifiers toward deep learning, self-supervised speech representations, and end-to-end architectures. Task formulations expanded from binary detection to subtype classification, temporal localization, and severity-related estimation, but most systems operationalized stuttering through overt, listener-detectable speech behaviors rather than broader speaker-experienced dimensions of stuttering. Pooled estimates suggested strong reported performance under study-specific conditions (accuracy = 86.9%; F1 = 73.2%), but heterogeneity was very high (I² > 85% for both), indicating substantial variation in datasets, task definitions, and evaluation approaches. CONCLUSIONS:Current AI systems primarily measure overt, operationally defined speech behaviors and therefore do not fully capture stuttering as lived and experienced by speakers, including dimensions such as anticipation, effort, and loss of control. Future progress requires speaker-informed target definitions, more transparent reference standards, and multimodal, externally validated models that better align AI outputs with experientially meaningful constructs.
Background Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder that typically emerges in childhood and may persist into adulthood. The current study hypothesized that adults with persistent stuttering who received active anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left inferior frontal gyrus would demonstrate significantly greater improvements in speech fluency compared to those who received sham stimulation. Methods A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a combined therapeutic approach. Thirty adults diagnosed with moderate to severe stuttering (6 females, 24 males; M = 30.60 years, SD = 10.15) were randomly assigned to either an anodal tDCS group or a sham stimulation group. Participants in the anodal group received fluency shaping therapy concurrently with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (2mA), while those in the sham group underwent the same behavioral therapy alongside sham stimulation. The tDCS was targeted over the left inferior frontal gyrus. Each participant completed ten 20-minute sessions over five consecutive days. Speech fluency outcomes were measured pre- and post-intervention. Results The anodal tDCS group demonstrated significantly greater reductions in %SS, NAT, and SR compared to the sham group across all post-intervention time points (p <.05). Regarding the OASES, no significant between-group differences were observed at any time point; however, both groups demonstrated significant within-group improvements from baseline to the 3-month follow-up. Conclusions These findings suggest that tDCS, when combined with behavioral fluency interventions, can enhance speech fluency in adults who stutter. tDCS may therefore serve as a promising adjunctive technique to augment the effectiveness of conventional fluency therapies.
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge about stuttering in the Jordanian community and the public attitudes that the Jordanians might have toward people who stutter.Method:First, five non-stuttering speakers served as a focus group; they were interviewed in a qualitative, open-ended discussion to inform the design of a culturally appropriate questionnaire. Based on the participants’ responses in the focus group and similar items used in the literature, a questionnaire was designed for the current study. The survey was administered to 240 non-stuttering speakers to assess their knowledge and attitudes about people who stutter. Results No significant interaction effect was observed between gender and either knowledge or attitudes toward people who stutter. Education, religiosity, and contact status did not significantly predict knowledge about stuttering. The greatest perceived difference between fluent speakers and people who stutter was in speaking ability. Education and religiosity were significantly associated with attitudes, with higher levels of both linked to more positive attitude scores The association with religiosity may reflect the influence of non-discriminatory religious principles in Islamic teachings that emphasize equality and compassion. Contact status and knowledge were not significant predictors of attitudes. Conclusion Findings reveal specific areas of limited knowledge and persistent negative attitudes toward stuttering in Jordan, while also highlighting the potential positive roles of education and religiosity. The study underscores the need for culturally tailored public awareness campaigns to reduce stigma.
