The Role of Repetition Units in the Differential Diagnosis of Early Childhood Incipient Stuttering

Abstract

The role of the number of repetition units as a differentiating factor in the identification of very early stuttering in young children is explored. Speech samples of 1,000 syllables each from 29 experimental and 29 control subjects were analyzed for presence and extent of part-word and single syllable word repetitions. Statistically significant differences between the two groups were found for the mean number of units per instance of repetition, the percentages of single- and multiple-unit repetitions, and the frequency of occurrence of instances containing multiple repetition units. The extent of overlap between groups varied among the three measures. Specific suggestions concerning applications of the findings to clinical purposes are made.