Characteristics of Nonspeech Behavior Associated With Disfluencies on 3-5 Year Old Children Who Stutter

Background & Objectives: Investigators has rarely studied on nonspeech behaviors- especially children’s nonspeech behaviors associated with stuttering comparing with core stuttering speech events. This study investigated the characteristics of nonspeech behaviors associated with disfluencies of children who stutter, by examination of the frequency of nonspeech behaviors and the relationship between the type of disfluencies and associated nonspeech behaviors. Methods: 15 three-to-five year old children who stutter participated in this study. Participants’ nonspeech behaviors during speech tasks were classified into face/head movement and limb/torso movements using facial action coding system and category instrumentally defined for this study. Results: There was no differences in the frequency of nonspeech behaviors by the type of disfluencies(stuttering: 97%, normal disfluencies: 95%) and in the mean number of the frequency of nonspeech behaviors per disfluency by the type of disfluencies(stuttering: 4.0, nonspeech behaviors: 4.4). There were more face/head movements than limb/torso movements during total disfluencies. The type of associated nonspeech behaviors was not significantly related with the type of disfluencies(χ2=23.855, p=.068). Discussion & Conclusion: The results propose the possibility of various functions of associated behaviors. Young children who stutter frequently showed various type of nonspeech behaviors during disfluencies. Other methods than frequency analysis will be needed to investigate the relationship between the type of disfluencies and associated nonspeech behaviors in future studies.ope