From: Scott
Date: 03 Oct 2012
Time: 12:17:09 -0500
Remote Name: 108.17.124.241
Hi Joe - Thanks for the email and for reading the paper! I'll add in my $.02 on this, too. I may be a bit of an extremist on this, but I tend to view stuttering as a condition involving both speech and language. Whether they're in equal parts is hard to say...but I am somewhat struck by the fact that the findings of motor differences in children who stutter may not be as robust as findings of language differences. Nan Ratner has provided compelling evidence that children who stutter may have some very subtle language differences. Others (e.g., Ed Conture and colleagues) have reported on various aspects of language development and phonological development for years (I am not sold on Marilyn Nippold's representation of the data.) On the other hand, we know that there are instabilities in the motor system (greater variability - Anne Smith's work) and so that clearly plays a role. Altogether, though, I tend to hesitate to say that stuttering is a "motor" disorder because it's not clear that the motor system is deficient. It's also clearly not just a "language" disorder because the language system is largely (though perhaps not entirely) intact. So, I say it's a condition involving both language and motor components. The behavior is certainly a motor endpoint, but the reasons the behavior arise do not involve only the motor system. BTW, your point about giving people all the time they need is true - but I'd think about this not just in terms of available time for planning. If you give somebody with a learning disability (or reading, or writing, or articulation) all the time they need to process something, that still doesn't necessarily mean that they'll get it right. It's not a slowness of processing but a disorder of processing (wherein the processing may be incorrect/inaccurate and not just inefficient/slow). So, timing is a big variable, but timing isn't everything. Plus, we need to add in the whole emotional overlay, wherein having all the time in the world may simply increase anxiety (and, thus, physical tension) rather than necessarily decreasing it. Sorry - I've rambled... My answer to your question is, then, both. Perhaps you know the quote: Never ask an elf for advice, for he will tell you both yes and no. ;-) S