The Effects of Changes of Speech Rate on the Frequency of Stutters in Pre-School Stuttering Children

Lee, Kyung Jae; Shin, Ji Cheol; Kim, Hyang Hee; Sim, Hyun Sub

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2003;8(3): 134-148.

Kyung Jae Lee^` , Ji Cheol Shin^` , Hyang Hee Kim^` , and Hyun Sub Sim^`

이경재(Kyung Jae Lee)| 신지철(Ji Cheol Shin)| 김향희(Hyang Hee Kim)| 심현섭(Hyun Sub Sim)

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the changes of articulation rate, overall speech rate, and frequency of stutters of pre-school stuttering children in three conditions: (1) when the investigator's speech rate is faster than the child’s, (2) when the speech rates of the investigator and the child are the same, and (3) when the investigator’s speech rate is slower than the child’s. Six pre-school stuttering children participated in the research. The following results were obtained: (1) There were no significant changes in articulation rate and overall speech rate in all of the three conditions. (2) However, significant differences were found in the frequencies of stutters between conditions (1) and (3) and between conditions (2) and (3). The implication of the results of the study is that the slower speech rate of the conversational partner is a positively efficacious factor for reducing the frequency of stutters in the pre-school stuttering children.