Analysis of physical concomitants in childhood stuttering

• Grant number: 22/07169-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Speech Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Cristiane Moço Canhetti de Oliveira
• Grantee: Stephanie Sayuri Tavares Okamoto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Stresses and physical concomitants are little explored in scientific investigations. However, this issue is relevant considering that they further impair speech motor control and can affect the quality of life of people who stutter. Purpose: To characterize the physical concomitants presented by children who stutter as to their prevalence, category, and association with disfluencies; to compare data between preschoolers and school-age children, and between the results of the speech-language pathology assessment and the child's self-perception. Method: 30 children will participate in this study, 15 preschoolers who will form the Group of Preschoolers who Stutter (PSWS) and 15 students who will form the Group of School-Age Children Who Stutter (SAWS). After signing the informed consent form by those responsible, all participants will be submitted to a fluency assessment, classification of stuttering severity, and a protocol for self-perception of physical concomitants. The inclusion requirements will be speech-language pathology diagnosis of stuttering; present at least 3% of stuttering like-disfluencies in a spontaneous speech sample with 200 fluent syllables; present disfluencies for at least 12 months; score at least 11 points on the Stuttering Severity Instrument. Analysis of results: qualitative variables will be analyzed by calculating absolute and relative frequencies. The number of participants who reported physical tension or physical concomitants in a given body location will be compared with the results obtained in the speech-language pathology assessment. Inferential analyzes will be performed to compare the performance of the two age groups in the different analyzed variables, using relevant statistical tests.(AU)