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From: Dennis Drayna
Date: 20 Oct 2004
Time: 08:33:09 -0500
Remote Name: 134.29.30.89
Dear Sheri, Thank you for your question regarding risk of stuttering for family members. I want to congratulate you on aggressively pursuing stuttering therapy options while your daughter is so young. Such early intervention can often achieve better results than waiting until later. . . . It appears that your family may carry an inherited predisposition to stuttering, which is not unusual. Unfortunately, since the inheritance patterns of stuttering are not well understood, it can be difficult to precisely predict the chances your son will stutter. In genetics terms, this is referred to as the recurrence risk, which is currently unknown for stuttering. However, in most families, the chances are relatively low. It is true that more males stutter than females, but in our studies the ratio is not 90%, it's more like 75% males 25% females. So, if I was to make a guess regarding the chances your son will stutter, I might guess something like a 25% chance. One thing is very clear, however, which is that while stuttering can cluster in families, severity does not. So the chances of your son carrying a lifelong significant stutter are probably much smaller. In my family, we have a number of cases of stuttering, and my son developed a fairly significant stutter when he was about the age of your daughter. It gradually disappeared over the subsequent 9 months without any intervention on our part. . . . Regarding the home environment, if your son does develop a stutter, having a good speech environment in the home will certainly be helpful. However, the small amount of genetic data we have suggests children do not learn to stutter by listening to stuttering in the home. . . . Finally, I am not an authority on stuttering therapy, so I cannot comment on children being dismissed from therapy. My opinion is that for the many PWS, therapy is a lifelong job. There is a distinct shortage of research comparing the results of one therapy program with another. Such studies are expensive and they take quite a long time to complete, although it would certainly be useful to have them. Best of luck. . . . -- Dennis Drayna, PhD NIDCD/NIH