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From: Nan Ratner
Date: 10/17/00
Time: 10:34:34 AM
Remote Name: 129.2.25.203
There are a number of models of stuttering that include the impact of language planning on fluency of verbal output. The Covert Repair Hypothesis (Postma & Kolk) suggests that the phonological encoding abilities of those who stutter may be impaired, and a number of empirical studies of the specifics of the model have been tested, with partial support for the model, although lack of support in some cases as well. Currently, I am most interested in the work of Anne Smith at Purdue and her colleagues, who have shown that motor planning is destabilized in young children and in those who stutter when the complexity of a linguistic task is manipulated. That is, actual motor output, when viewed instrumentally, is more variable when the speaking task is made harder in terms of language encoding. I think this is interesting work; it appeared recently in Journal of Speech and Hearing Research. Finally, I have been concerned that many models can suggest why language encoding demand could produce disfluency; it obviously does so even in people who don't stutter. What seems less clear is why stutter events do not resemble normal disfluencies. To that end, we have been exploring whether or not young children at the onset of stuttering are atypically aware of their disfluent moments, potentially setting the stage for a cycle of reactivity that converts these moments into what we identify as stutters. Hope this helps! Thanks so much for your interest!