Catherine Theys

A clinician survey of speech and non-speech characteristics of neurogenic stuttering

UNLABELLED This study presents survey data on 58 Dutch-speaking patients with neurogenic stuttering following various neurological injuries. Stroke was the most prevalent cause of stuttering in our patients, followed by traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative diseases, and other causes. Speech and non-speech characteristics were analyzed separately for these four etiology groups. Results suggested possible group differences, including site of lesion and influence of speech conditions on stuttering. Other characteristics, such as within-word localization of disfluencies and presence of secondary behaviors were comparable across the etiology groups. The implications of our results for the diagnosis of neurogenic stuttering will be discussed. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (1) provide a concise overview of the main literature on neurogenic stuttering; (2) discuss the speech and non-speech characteristics of neurogenic stuttering; (3) provide an overview of current clinical practices for intervention with neurogenic stuttering patients and their perceived outcome.

Diffusion tensor imaging and resting-state functional MRI-scanning in 5- and 6-year-old children: training protocol and motion assessment.

Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and resting-state functional MRI (rfMRI) are widely used to study structural and functional neural connectivity. However, as these techniques are highly sensitive to motion artifacts and require a considerable amount of time for image acquisition, successful acquisition of these images can be challenging to complete with certain populations. This is especially true for young children. This paper describes a new approach termed the ‘submarine protocol’, designed to prepare 5- and 6-year-old children for advanced MRI scanning. The submarine protocol aims to ensure that successful scans can be acquired in a time- and resource-efficient manner, without the need for sedation. This manuscript outlines the protocol and details its outcomes, as measured through the number of children who completed the scanning procedure and analysis of the degree of motion present in the acquired images. Seventy-six children aged between 5.8 and 6.9 years were trained using the submarine protocol and subsequently underwent DTI and rfMRI scanning. After completing the submarine protocol, 75 of the 76 children (99%) completed their DTI-scan and 72 children (95%) completed the full 35-minute scan session. Results of diffusion data, acquired in 75 children, showed that the motion in 60 of the scans (80%) did not exceed the threshold for excessive motion. In the rfMRI scans, this was the case for 62 of the 71 scans (87%). When placed in the context of previous studies, the motion data of the 5- and 6-year-old children reported here were as good as, or better than those previously reported for groups of older children (i.e., 8-year-olds). Overall, this study shows that the submarine protocol can be used successfully to acquire DTI and rfMRI scans in 5 and 6-year-old children, without the need for sedation or lengthy training procedures.

A crucial role for the cortico-striato-cortical loop in the pathogenesis of stroke-related neurogenic stuttering.

Neurogenic stuttering is an acquired speech disorder characterized by the occurrence of stuttering‐like dysfluencies following brain damage. Because the onset of stuttering in these patients is associated with brain lesions, this condition provides a unique opportunity to study the neural processes underlying speech dysfluencies. Lesion localizations of 20 stroke subjects with neurogenic stuttering and 17 control subjects were compared using voxel‐based lesion symptom mapping. The results showed nine left‐hemisphere areas associated with the presence of neurogenic stuttering. These areas were largely overlapping with the cortico‐basal ganglia‐cortical network comprising the inferior frontal cortex, superior temporal cortex, intraparietal cortex, basal ganglia, and their white matter interconnections through the superior longitudinal fasciculus and internal capsule. These results indicated that stroke‐induced neurogenic stuttering is not associated with neural dysfunction in one specific brain area but can occur following one or more lesion throughout the cortico‐basal ganglia‐cortical network. It is suggested that the onset of neurogenic stuttering in stroke subjects results from a disintegration of neural functions necessary for fluent speech. Hum Brain Mapp 34:2103–2112, 2013.

Acquired stuttering in a 16-year-old boy

Abstract This case study describes a 16-year-old boy who started to stutter after a rotavirus infection followed by signs suggestive of a cerebellar encephalitis. It illustrates the fact that acquired stuttering can be observed in younger children and that it may be difficult to distinguish neurogenic from psychogenic forms of acquired stuttering in some cases. This is especially true following a disease that is not commonly associated with acquired stuttering. Speech, language and medical results of our patient are reported in detail. Similarities with previously reported cases and comparisons to (speech) characteristics of psychogenic and neurogenic stuttering will be discussed.