No description available.

The phenomena of disfluency clusters have been examined in the speech of children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS). Little is known about disfluency clusters in the adult population. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of disfluency clusters in adults who stutter (AWS). The participants were ten AWS ranging in age from 18 to 60 (mean age = 35), with a stuttering severity of 9 to 30% (mean = 19%). Each participant provided a conversational speech sample of at least 300 words. Analysis focused on disfluency type, utterance length, speaking rate, and perceptual measures. Findings indicated that utterances containing disfluency clusters were significantly longer than fluent utterances and the speaking rate of fluent utterances was found to be significantly faster than that of disfluent utterances. Collectively the results appear to support a linguistic interpretation of disfluency clusters. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

People who stutter (PWS) tend to have increased levels of anxiety compared to people who do not stutter (PWNS), particularly in social situations (Messenger, Onslow, Packman, & Menzies, 2004). In addition, children who stutter (CWS) as young as 3 years of age reportedly have more negative communication attitudes than their fluent peers, and these attitudes appear to worsen with age and stuttering severity (De Nil & Brutten, 1990, 1991; Vanryckeghem, Brutten, & Hernandez, 2005). The present study sought to examine generalized anxiety and communication apprehension in preschool CWS. Seven CWS aged between 3;3 and 4;11 years, and seven sex and age-matched children who do not stutter (CWNS) provided salivary cortisol samples at three distinct sampling times across a one-week period. They additionally provided a conversational speech sample, and were administered the Communication Attitude Test for Preschool and Kindergarten Children Who Stutter (Vanryckeghem & Brutten, 2007). Parents were required to complete the Preschool Anxiety Scale (Spence & Rapee, 1999) to provide estimates of their child's anxiety level. Results revealed no significant differences between CWS and CWNS in generalized anxiety or communication apprehension. No relationships were found between stuttering severity and generalized anxiety or communication apprehension either. Thus, it is concluded that generalized anxiety and communication apprehension are not associated with early childhood stuttering. Any changes in anxiety levels are likely to occur with increased chronological age and stuttering chronicity.

Thesis (M.A. 1977) from the Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-148). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2007. / Title from title screen (site viewed June 17, 2008). PDF text: xiii, 172 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 2 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3294945. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2008. / Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 319 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Columbia University. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 45-51.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.