For centuries, people have feared being judged for stuttering, a condition often misunderstood as a psychological problem caused by things like bad parenting or emotional trauma. But research presented at a science conference on [February 19] explores its biological underpinnings: genetics and brain differences.
“By understanding the biology, we’re going to decrease the stigma. We’re going to increase the acceptance,” one of the speakers, Dr. Gerald Maguire, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. He’s a California psychiatrist who is involved in testing potential medications for stuttering based on the science.
Researchers identified the first genes strongly linked to stuttering more than a decade ago. Imaging studies peered into the brains of adults and older children, and in the last few years, University of Delaware speech disorder researcher Ho Ming Chow started looking at 3- to 5-year-olds. That’s around the age many kids begin stuttering, with about 80% outgrowing it.
Chow said the imaging shows slight brain differences in young children who keep stuttering, compared with those who recover and those who never stuttered.
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“We know stuttering has a really strong genetic component,” Chow said. Though several genes may be involved and the exact genetic causes may vary by child, “they probably affect the brain in a similar way.”
