Dataset Information

The effects of bilingualism on stuttering during late childhood.

ABSTRACT: To examine stuttering by children speaking an alternative language exclusively (LE) or with English (BIL) and to study onset of stuttering, school performance and recovery rate relative to monolingual speakers who stutter (MONO).Clinical referral sample with supplementary data obtained from speech recordings and interviews.South-East England, 1999-2007.Children aged 8-12 plus who stuttered (monolingual and bilingual) and fluent bilingual controls (FB).Participants' stuttering history, SATS scores, measures of recovery or persistence of stuttering.69 (21.8%) of 317 children were bilingual. Of 38 children who used a language other than English at home, 36 (94.7%) stuttered in both languages. Fewer LE (15/38, 39.5%) than BIL (23/38, 60.5%) children stuttered at first referral to clinic, but more children in the fluent control sample were LE (28/38, 73.7%) than BIL (10/38, 26.3%). The association between stuttering and bilingual group (LE/BIL) was significant by chi(2) test; BIL speakers have more chance of stuttering than LE speakers. Age at stuttering onset and male/female ratio for LE, BIL and MONO speakers were similar (4 years 9 months, 4 years 10 months and 4 years 3 months, and 4.1:1, 4.75:1 and 4.43:1, respectively). Educational achievement was not affected by bilingualism relative to the MONO and FB groups. The recovery rate for the LE and MONO controls together (55%) was significantly higher by chi(2) test than for the BIL group (25%).BIL children had an increased risk of stuttering and a lower chance of recovery from stuttering than LE and MONO speakers.

SUBMITTER: Howell P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2597689 | biostudies-other | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Growing up in a bilingual environment is becoming increasingly common. Yet, we know little about how this enriched language environment influences the connectivity of children's brains. Behavioural research in children and adults has shown that bilingualism experience may boost executive control (EC) skills, such as inhibitory control and attention. Moreover, increased structural and functional (resting-state) connectivity in language-related and EC-related brain networks is associated with increased executive control in bilingual adults. However, how bilingualism factors alter brain connectivity early in brain development remains poorly understood. We will combine standardised tests of attention with structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in bilingual children. This study will allow us to address an important field of inquiry within linguistics and developmental cognitive neuroscience by examining the following questions: Does bilingual experience modulate connectivity in language-related and EC-related networks in children? Do differences in resting-state brain connectivity correlate with differences in EC skills (specifically attention skills)? How do bilingualism-related factors, such as age of exposure to two languages, language usage and proficiency, modulate brain connectivity? We will collect structural and functional MRI, and quantitative measures of EC and language skills from two groups of English-Greek bilingual children - 20 simultaneous bilinguals (exposure to both languages from birth) and 20 successive bilinguals (exposure to English between the ages of 3 and 5 years) - and 20 English monolingual children, 8-10 years old. We will compare connectivity measures and attention skills between monolinguals and bilinguals to examine the effects of bilingual exposure. We will also examine to what extent bilingualism factors predict brain connectivity in EC and language networks. Overall, we hypothesize that connectivity and EC will be enhanced in bilingual children compared to monolingual children, and each outcome will be modulated by age of exposure to two languages and by bilingual language usage.

Dataset Information

The effects of bilingualism on stuttering during late childhood.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets