Bilingual children likely to stutter

Young bilingual children have a high risk of stuttering. These children also have less chances of recovery from stuttering than monolingual speakers who stutter. Bilingualism is considered a risk factor for stuttering but there is little information about how a second language affects the chances of the onset of stuttering and recovery. Researchers from UK studied a total of 317 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years who stuttered. The 69 children who were bilingual were matched to a group of fluent bilingual controls. Of the 38 bilingual children who used a language other than English at home, it was found that 36 stuttered in both languages. Two of the 38 children stuttered in their mother tongue but did not stutter in English. Fewer children who used their alternative language exclusively at home and learned English in school stuttered, compared with those who used both languages at home - 40 percent versus 60 percent, respectively. In contrast, fluent bilingual controls were more likely to speak their alternative language exclusively at home - 74 percent versus 26 percent, respectively. The difference between bilingual stutterers and bilingual fluent speakers who spoke only their mother tongue during their preschool years was statistically significant. The recovery rate for children who spoke both languages at home prior to school age was 25 percent, compared with 55 percent in both the alternative language exclusively and monolingual speakers. However, it was also found that early school performance was not affected by stuttering.

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