PURPOSE: to analyze the following factors: gender, age, type of the onset of disfluencies, duration and typology of disfluencies; physical and emotional stresses and communicative and qualitative factors associated in children with high risk for stuttering and without familial recurrence of the disorder. METHOD: 43 children with high risk for developing mental sporadic stuttering of both genders. Data were gathered through the Protocol of Risk for Stuttering Developmental- PRGD. RESULTS: the ratio male to female was 3.3:1. The occurrence of communicative factors associated in males (p=0.003) was the only statistically significant difference in the analyzed risk factors in male and female. There was a resemblance concerning the findings between male and female: Concerning the duration of the disfluencies, the majority showed more than twelve months of duration, the stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD) were more frequent, the presence of emotional stresses occurred in the majority of the children, and lastly, the qualitative factors associated, such as fast speech rate, tension, and lack of coordination between respiration and phonation were found in most samples. CONCLUSION: the results of this study suggest that in children with high risk for sporadic stuttering there occurs the interaction of numerous factors, suggesting that this disorder is multifactorial. It was also possible to conclude that the interaction of some risk factors such as male gender, stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD) manifested by more than 12 months with persistent onset, in the presence of communicative and qualitative factors associated may represent increased risk for developing persistent stuttering.
Speech; Language and Hearing Sciences; Speech; Stuttering; Risk Factors; Speech Disorders
