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Re: Is stuttering hereditary?

From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 10/6/01
Time: 2:04:51 PM
Remote Name: 134.29.30.167

Comments

Dear Joseph,

Thank you so much for your question. I am sure it is puzzling why so many of your siblings stutter when your parents do not. That certainly would make you wonder if the cause were genetic or environmental.

Given your family history of stuttering, from a scientific perspective, I think you have answered your question, "Is stuttering hereditary?" about as convincingly as any data I have seen. Of course, there clearly could be environmental influences, possibly related to speech pressure and family or societal standards for speech fluency, but most of the good research points clearly to a strong genetic link in most cases of stuttering. Your family is a strong example of this. Of the 21 siblings or half-siblings, 2/3 (67%) stutter, 85% of the boys and 38% of the girls. (On the average about 3-4 times as many boys as girls stutter.) The common genetic link, of course, is your father. I would be curious if there is any stuttering (or the somewhat related condition of cluttering) in his parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, brothers, sisters, or their children.

Your family could become an important case study to report in the literature on stuttering. If you are interested, I am sure that a number of scientists would be very anxious to carry out a study of your family history. If you wish to pursue this, feel free to contact me at kstlouis@wvu.edu. I will try to help you gather systematic information with the help of other scientists who are carrying out genetic research.

Thanks again for your question. I hope my comments might provide some insight.

Ken


Last changed: September 14, 2005