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From: John Tetnowski
Date: 12 Oct 2004
Time: 10:19:21 -0500
Remote Name: 130.70.143.78
Cathy, Here is a response to part of your most intersting question. There are a number of studies that look at stuttering and associated speech, language and learning disorders. An early study by Blood and Seider (1981) discovered that 68% of children who stutter had at least one concomitant speech, language, or learning disorder (which would include reading disorders and/or dyslexia. A second study (Concomitant Disorders in School-Age Children Who Stutter, Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, Volume 32, Issue 2. Pages 68 - 78. April 2001, by Jennifer Arndt & E. Charles Healey) found that of the 262 stuttering children that they surveyed (with a verified fluency disorder), 109 (42%) children had a suspected concomitant disorder and 153 (58%) did not have a suspected concomitant disorder. Included in the sample of 109 children suspected of having a concomitant disorder, 20% had a suspected language disorder, 13% had a suspected phonological disorder, and 5% had a suspected voice disorder. A total of 24% of the children were suspected of having a learning disability, and 14% were suspected of having a reading disability. These are almost direct quotes from their research (which is why I gave you the complete citation). Since these numbers are higher than the percentage of dyslexia in the general population, there is clearly some relationship that links the two. The relationship is probably not significant though (I've not done the statistics, but it doesn't look highly significant). I hope others will add to this response. Again, thanks for the question.