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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 05 Oct 2004
Time: 16:38:15 -0500
Remote Name: 157.182.12.221
Hi Viren, Let me add to what Dorvan has written. A very interesting longitudinal study was carried out by Saskia Kloth and her colleagues in The Netherlands. There are several publication on this study, but let me mention an early finding that was reported by Kloth, Janssen, and Kraaimaat in 1992. They had tested and recorded 91 1-2 year-old children. All of these children had one or both parents who stuttered. Of course, none of the children stuttered at that very young age. At 3 years of age, they were tested again, and 20 of the 91 or 22% had begun to stutter. The estimates are very rough, but many experts agree that the lifetime incidence or risk of stuttering is about 5%; yet, it is likely that the combined risk by age 3 is somewhat lower. I would *guess* about 3%. If you divide the 22% by 3%, the Kloth study would generate a factor of 7 times the risk of stuttering compared to the general population. I, too, don't know where the 8% to which you refer is written, and I don't know the age limitations associated the percentage, but the forgoing analysis suggests that it might be reasonably accurate. Others may disagree with me here. If so, I hope they weigh in. This is an important issue. Ken