# Early childhood stuttering and risk for persistence: The impact of emotion on speech and cognitive control

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $571,430

## Abstract

Developmental stuttering commonly emerges between 24-60 months of age with the majority of these children
recovering from stuttering. For the remaining children, persistent stuttering into school-age years and
adulthood confers significant risk for adverse impact on social-emotional, educational, and vocational
outcomes. Although over the past years a variety of risk factors for stuttering persistence have been identified
(e.g., stuttering severity, sex, age at onset, time since onset, articulation, language ability), there is still a critical
need to optimize the accuracy with which stuttering persistence can be predicted. To date, predictive models
have rarely considered the role of emotion; however, our preliminary data suggest that it plays a major role in
stuttering persistence. Specifically, our cross-sectional work has demonstrated that cortical and autonomic
markers of emotional reactivity and emotion-related cognitive control vulnerabilities in children who stutter
(CWS) contribute to stuttering and are associated with persistence (pilot data). We recently extended this work
and developed a novel methodology to test the effects of emotional reactivity on speech preparation and
production in young children at risk for persistence. Based on our findings to date, the central hypothesis of the
proposed project is that emotional reactivity plays a major role in stuttering persistence by interfering
with both non-speech cognitive control (e.g. inhibition and execution) and speech preparation and
production processes necessary for the early development of speech fluency and thereby confers
heightened risk for stuttering persistence. To test this hypothesis, we will conduct a longitudinal study of
young (3- to 4-year old) CWS. Annual lab visits will occur for 3 years from study enrollment and will involve a
comprehensive stuttering assessment, a speech-language, cognitive, and temperament diagnostic battery as
well as the systematic assessment of emotional reactivity, cognitive control, and speech preparation and
production processes. The specific aims of the project are to: (1) determine if cortical and autonomic
biomarkers of emotional reactivity predict outcome (persist versus recover) for CWS, (2) determine if emotion-
related performance during a non-speech cognitive control task and a speaking task predicts outcome (persist
versus recover) for CWS, and (3) determine whether markers of emotional contributions to stuttering provide
additive predictive value when combined with other established variables associated with stuttering
persistence. If successful, the proposed project addresses the continued clinical need to identify markers of
risk for stuttering persistence and improve the accuracy of predictive models. These advances will allow
clinicians to better pinpoint targets for assessment, set the stage for novel therapeutic approaches, and allow
researchers to better evaluate the effects of early intervention due to an improved ability ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10848504
- **Project number:** 5R01DC020311-03
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Robin Michael Jones
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $571,430
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-08-10 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10848504

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10848504, Early childhood stuttering and risk for persistence: The impact of emotion on speech and cognitive control (5R01DC020311-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10848504. Licensed CC0.

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