Short Biographical Sketch

Edward G. Conture, Professor and Director, Graduate Studies, Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232. Conture has authored over 115 peer-reviewed papers, 4 books and given over 300 professional/scholar presentations to (inter)national conferences. His main research interests relate to childhood stuttering, particularly emotional/psycholinguistic contributions.

Lecture Title

Diathesis-Stressor Model of Childhood Stuttering

Abstract

For the approximately 1% of children who continue to stutter after 6 years of age, the negative impact of stuttering can be significant in terms of academic, emotional, social, vocational achievement, development and potential. Thus, there is a need to determine which variables may initiate/cause, exacerbate or perpetuate stuttering to eventually develop more efficient, effective data-motivated approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Trying to address that need, the presenter has pursued a program of empirical study of speech-language planning and production as well as dispositional and situational aspects of emotions in attempts to determine whether these variables may be causal contributors to developmental stuttering.

Based on a relatively large data-base (n = 300) involving preschool children who do and do not stutter, findings from select descriptive as well as experimental investigations will be presented. These findings will be used to support a diathesis-stressor model of developmental stuttering. Specifically, subtle, probably developmental, inefficiencies in speech-language planning and/or production (diathesis) are believed to be exacerbated by relatively high levels of unregulated emotional reactivity (stressor), resulting in instances of stuttering. Because the nature and number of interactions between these causal contributors is probably unevenly distributed across the population, it seems reasonable to suggest that no one size (explanation) will fit all children who stutter.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will learn:

1. about diasthesis-stressor models of human disorders,
2. about the relative contribution to speech-language plannning/production to childhood stuttering,
3. about the relative contribution of emotional reactivity and regulation to childhood stuttering,
4. how 2. and 3. above interact and combine in various ways to contribute to stuttering in early childhood.