Electroencephalogram (EEG) Investigation in Children who Stutter

Sheena Reilly, Vicki Anderson, Mark MacKay, Susan Block, Bronwyn Parry-Fielder, Libby Smith, Kerry Ttofari, Carly Veness and Susan Watson

Increased EEG abnormalities have been reported in individuals who stutter, but these are not well described. We aimed to determine whether a group of children who stutter who have an epileptic tendency as demonstrated by an abnormal EEG. Using community-ascertained cases of children who stutter and matched fluent speaking controls, we undertook a battery of speech, language and fluency assessments and collected sleep and awake EEG data. Preliminary data suggests a higher rate of EEG abnormalities in the 16 cases compared to the 8 controls. We report a single case report of a trial of anticonvulsant medication with one participant who had an epileptiform EEG.