A longitudinal analysis on interruption in preschool children who stutter during interactions with their mothers*

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate, longitudinally, interruption behavior which children who do stutter (CWS), children who do not stutter (CWNS) and their mothers and relationship with disfluency of children showed during interactions with their mothers. Subjects for this study consisted of 2−5 year old CWS (male 2 and female 4), an age-matched group of CWNS (male 3 and female 3), and their mothers. Frequencies of normal disfluency (ND) and abnormal disfluency (AD) in children group and frequency of interruption and simultalk duration in children and mothers group were measured two times (initial visit and 12 months later) over the course of one year. As a result, no significant difference was observed in frequency of interruption and simultalk duration both between two mother groups and between two child groups at initial visit and 12 months later. However, frequency of interruption increased significantly over the course of one year in CWS group. A significant group difference was found in frequency of interruption of mothers but, no significant difference was observed in simultalk duration of mothers at initial visit. In the CWS.mothers group, no factors were related with disfluency of children at initial visit and 12 months later. These findings suggest that interruption is not just negative behavior, and that reducing interruption should be considered in child.parent interaction therapy for CWS.