Articles

Research Update: Fluency and time perception

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Category: Research

Published: Sunday, 27 March 2011 06:30

Written by Lisa Wilder

This article was originally published in the winter 2011 issue of CSA Voices.

Are the brains of people who stutter bad timekeepers?

“I do not understand...the lateral movement of time. A clock ticks in an orderly fashion...My urge is always to telescope time into itself... and speed it up. People with a normal sense of time can count “one, two, three, four, five” systematically. I on the other hand, would count out five as ‘one, two threefourfive’ ”
– Marty Jezer, Stuttering: a Life Bound up in Words

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Pagoclone Study not Promising

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Category: Research

Published: Saturday, 31 July 2010 07:46

Written by Lisa Wilder

After many years of testing, the drug Pagoclone, believed to reduce stuttering in some people, is still not available for general use, and might never be. As reported by Tom Weidig on his blog, Endo Pharmaceuticals is closing the initial phase of testing according to their website, with no plans to put it on the market any time soon. They are starting a new phase of testing next year. As it stands, things do not look promising for development of a stuttering-reduction drug.

Gerald A. Maguire, MD, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, the Kirkup Chair in Stuttering, admitted during a talk at the National Stuttering Association conference in Cleveland, that the current testing phase was over.

More information on this subject will be posted on this site in the future.

Coping methods and strategies of people who stutter, part 1

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Category: Research

Published: Friday, 30 April 2010 15:08

Written by Lisa Wilder

This article is a summary and review of:
Article: Coping responses by adults who stutter: Part 1. Protecting the self and others
From the Journal of Fluency Disorders, Vol. 34, 2009, 87-107
Authors: Laura W. Plexico, Walter H. Manning, Heidi Levitt
The primary purpose of this study was to understand the range of speakers’ coping responses to the stress of stuttering. Also pertinent was the impact that these various responses have on one’s daily life.

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Research update: Bird songs shed light on stuttering

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Category: Research

Published: Sunday, 14 November 2010 09:48

Written by Lisa Wilder

The zebra finch is a rare bird in that its full genome has been mapped by geneticists. Remarkably, this has led to advances in stuttering research. The findings revealed that a substantial part of the genome of the finch is for the purpose of hearing and singing bird songs. This made the bird a candidate for further study, as its song “language” is remarkably similar to human language in certain respects.

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Coping responses by adults who stutter, Part 2

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Category: Research

Published: Monday, 21 June 2010 10:39

Written by Lisa Wilder

This article is a summary and review, of the following article:
Article: Coping responses by adults who stutter: Part 2. Approaching the problem and achieving agency
From the Journal of Fluency Disorders, Vol. 34, 2009, 87-107
Authors: Laura W. Plexico, Walter H. Manning, Heidi Levitt

The primary purpose of this study was to understand the range of speakers’ coping responses to the stress of stuttering. Also pertinent was the impact that these various responses have on one’s daily life.

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What do People Want – Fluency or Freedom?

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Category: Research

Published: Friday, 30 April 2010 15:07

Written by Lisa Wilder

This article is a summary and review of the following:
Article: What Do People Who Stutter Want — Fluency or Freedom?
From the Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, Vol. 52, April 2009
Author: H. S. Venkatagiri, 2130 Pearson Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This article documents the method and results of a survey of people who stutter to investigate their preference for difference possible treatment options. One option presented is the Freedom Option, where the goal is to modify the stuttering and reduce the struggle to avoid stuttering by freeing the subject from concern for fluent speech. Contrarily, the more common approach that most PWS are exposed to is the Fluency Option, which aims to reduce or eliminate stuttering.

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