Complexity and Diversity in Early Childhood Stuttering

Hans Månsson

Few representative longitudinal studies have been conducted based directly on the stuttering of small children and on the child's immediate surroundings. The most well-known and comprehensive of these studies is Andrews and Harris' study, The Syndrome of Stuttering, published in 1964. On the Danish island of Bornholm, a multifactorial longitudinal study of stuttering in small children have been conducted that includes all children born in 1995 and 1996 - i.e. roughly 1000 children in all. Data were collected in the years 1998-2004. In 2005 the data material was analysed that includes knowledge on factors like incidence, prevalence, the early development of stuttering, linearity, recovery, heredity, cognition, linguistics, phonology, and environmental factors. Selected results and conclusions will be presented at the seminar.