SFA RESEARCH FALL 2022
By Bridget Walsh, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Bridget Walsh is an Associate Professor of Communicative Sciences and Disorders in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University.
in younger children closer to the onset of stuttering and serve as an early risk indicator for stuttering persistence.
Research into brain structure and function and genetics helps us begin to unravel the bases of stuttering and supports the advancement of novel neuromodulation therapies9,10
1. Beal DS, Gracco VL, Brettschneider J, Kroll RM, De Nil LF. A voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis of regional grey and white matter volume abnormalities within the speech production network of children who stutter. Cortex. 2013;49(8):2151-2161. doi:10.1016/j. cortex.2012.08.013
2. Chang SE, Erickson KI, Ambrose NG, Hasegawa-Johnson MA, Ludlow CL. Brain anatomy differences in childhood stuttering. NeuroImage. 2008;39(3):1333-1344. doi:10.1016/
j.neuroimage.2007.09.067
. Yet, we must emphasize to people who
stutter and parents of children who stutter that in stuttering, the brain is grossly normal and healthy. We cannot yet diagnose stuttering by imaging a person’s brain. Te structures are intact, and the brain “wiring” is not broken by any means. Te differences we find in our research studies are subtle and vary from person to person.
On the other hand, what we have learned moves us beyond the sentiment that, “stuttering is a mystery. We don’t know what causes it.” While there is more we seek to understand about the neural underpinnings of stuttering, we can acknowledge findings from a growing body of neurobiological and genetic evidence that stuttering is a neurodevelopmental speech condition and that the brain circuitry supporting speech functions develops differently in people who stutter.
3. Chang SE, Zhu DC, Choo AL, Angstadt M. White matter neuroanatomical differences in young children who stutter. Brain. 2015;138(Pt 3):694-711. doi:10.1093/brain/awu400
4. Beal DS, Lerch JP, Cameron B, Henderson R, Gracco VL, De Nil LF. The trajectory of gray matter development in Broca’s area is abnormal in people who stutter. Front Hum Neurosci. 2015;9:89. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00089
5. Chow HM, Chang SE. White matter developmental trajectories associated with persistence and recovery of childhood stuttering. Hum Brain Mapp. 2017;38:3345-3359. doi:10.1002/hbm.23590
6. Garnett EO, Chow HM, Nieto-Castañón A, Tourville JA, Guenther FH, Chang SE. Anomalous morphology in left hemisphere motor and premotor cortex of children who stutter. Brain. 2018;141(9):2670-2684. doi:10.1093/brain/awy199
7. Hosseini R, Walsh B, Tian F, Wang S. An fNIRS-based feature learning and classification framework to distinguish hemodynamic patterns in children who stutter. IEEE T Neur Sys Reh. Published online 2018:1-1. doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2018.2829083
8. Walsh B, Tian F, Tourville JA, Yücel MA, Kuczek T, Bostian AJ. Hemodynamics of speech production: An fNIRS investigation of children who stutter. Sci Rep. 2017;7. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04357-6
9. Chesters J, Möttönen R, Watkins KE. Transcranial direct current stimulation over left inferior frontal cortex improves speech fluency in adults who stutter. Brain J Neurol. 2018;141(4):1161-1171. doi:10.1093/brain/awy011
10. Garnett EO, Chow HM, Choo AL, Chang SE. Stuttering Severity Modulates Effects of Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Adults Who Stutter. Front Hum Neurosci. 2019;13. Accessed August 16, 2022.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00411
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