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From: Greg Snyder
Date: 19 Oct 2006
Time: 19:20:07 -0500
Remote Name: 207.68.248.51
Hi Chana. You asked: [Would there be people who stutter when signing but not when speaking?] And to that, my honest answer is: Maybe. Followed by a: I honestly don’t know. I’ve never seen as such, but there is much to this phenomenon in which I have not seen. So it may be possible. You also wrote: [I ask because I never heard that PWS verbally would have trouble using their hands in gestures while speaking.] Well, I can’t really respond to this comment without a context. However, I will suggest that in some (if not many) people who stutter, the very act of stuttering (in speech) itself seems to almost emulate from a central processing center. So when I was signing (or writing on the blackboard)--if I got stuck in a moment of stuttered speech, other motoric actions may have stopped also. However, this is something that I “untaught” myself with conscious attention. Further, the cessation of other motoric activity may be a secondary behavior, rather than a symptom of the core pathology itself. You also asked: [Also, do you think that if a PWS was trained to use sign language, it is guaranteed that they would stutter while signing?] No, not particularly. But the question is much more complex than that. I don’t think I demonstrated “stuttered” sign when I was (only) signing. My signing wasn’t good, but I don’t think it was stuttered. However, when I performed SIMCOM, then my signing was more stutter-like. So it may depend on the person, as well as the modality of signing (and it’s interaction with speech). It also may depend on the primary vs. secondary linguistic form of expression. There is simply so much more research to do, and I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers. So as weak as these responses are, I hope they help…