Lexical Retrieval Abilities of Adults who Do and Do Not Stutter

Mark W. Pellowski

Researchers have suggested that difficulties with word retrieval may be associated with disfluent speech (e.g., Wingate, 1988). This study assessed the word finding abilities of 20 adults who do (AWS) and do not stutter (AWNS), by administering the Test of Adult Word Finding (TAWF) and a computerized picture naming task (CPNT). Results indicated that AWS scored significantly lower than AWNS on the TAWF and also exhibited significantly slower picture naming latencies on the CPNT. Findings suggest that difficulties with retrieving the appropriate word during speech language production may be related to increases in speech disfluencies for AWS.