Early bilingualism may increase stutter risk

Early bilingualism may increase stutter risk Posted 2 hours 28 minutes ago Children who are bilingual before the age of five are more likely to stutter than non-bilingual counterparts and also find it harder to shed this impediment, according to a British study published on Tuesday. The research was conducted among 317 London children who were referred to a speech therapist when they were aged between eight and 10. One in five of the stutterers were bilingual, speaking English at school and a second language at home. Boys outnumbered girls by a ratio of four to one. The study, headed by psychologist Peter Howell of University College London, appears in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, published by the British Medical Association (BMA). It found that stuttering, bilingual children usually stutter in both languages, rather than just one. By concentrating on the minority language up to the age of five, and then acquiring English, the risk of stuttering is reduced and overcoming the problem is easier, the study proposes. Starting English somewhat later, and learning it at the same time as the minority language, does not affect educational success, according to tests on children at the age of seven and 11, it said. - AFP


I mentioned this in an earlier thread but figured it might be of interest to those of you with kids growing up in a bilingual environment.

Very interesting. My five-year-old son seems to have developed a bit of a stutter. Actually, it's not a stutter as such, more a hesitation while he thinks about what he is saying. It goes something like "I want to...I want to..I want to go to Harry's place." He is fluent in both Thai and English, but this little impediment seems to have crept in to both languages in the last few months. We moved to Australia when he was three and prior to that his English was limited to some basic vocabulary.

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

Early bilingualism may increase stutter risk (snip)
I mentioned this in an earlier thread but figured it might be of interest to those of you with kids growing up in a bilingual environment.

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Interesting. I read a while ago that kids raised in bilingual house holds often are slower in developing language ability in both languages (can take them a good deal longer to start to talk for example), but that when they get it all squared away so to speak they actually catch up to the monolinguals in both languages.

Something to keep an eye out for I suppose.

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Originally Posted by nidhogg

Something to keep an eye out for I suppose.

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Yes, but, in my experience NOT something to be overly concerned about.

I wonder why they did not do this study in Wales.

My early schooling was in both Welsh and English, and I think bilingualism is a way of life there today.

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

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Originally Posted by nidhogg

Something to keep an eye out for I suppose.

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Yes, but, in my experience NOT something to be overly concerned about.

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Indeed.

We were brought up tri-lingual (father's, mother's and whichever country we were living) and none of the other diplomat's kids I know have had any stutter . . . nor do or did my brothers or me.

Looking at my children now, both English as the first language, of course, and bot are learning Mandarin and BM . . . no stutters there either.

Not saying the research is not valid, but in my very limited experience . . . can't concur

Fair comment. In many cases the "stutter" can be a pause in speech. A slight slowness as the words are sorted. In some cases the child may develop language later than it's peers.

The main thing is for parents not to worry.

The worrying parent can cause more problems than anything else. Of course it's perfectly natural to worry and be concerned but the problems start when enthusiastic amateurs start bandying words like "autism" around. Then it gets difficult.
I've always advised parents not to worry about it 'till the child is 6-7 years old. If the problems still persist then further consultation could be good.

My eldest daughter is 13, she's fluent in English, Thai and Welsh and learning Mandarin.

I agree with Pannama Hat and also from my personal experience I doubt the result.

Having said that the research was done in London and from my what I read about the daily violence in the UK I think any kid could develop a stutter

I think it's probably worth noting that the research was carried out on kids that had already started to stutter.

Secondly, I'd like to know the socio-economic background of the kids selected. I've tried pulling up the original article, but no success yet.

The educational background of the family will have a huge influence on the development of the child. I think you should both ^^ be proud and pleased to have been in, or provided an environment that was conducive to development.

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Secondly, I'd like to know the socio-economic background of the kids selected. I've tried pulling up the original article, but no success yet.

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You are right that could have a big influence on the result

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

I've tried pulling up the original article, but no success yet.

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me also. Your original source?

ABC News. Just in.
I googled the author but the article's not up yet.

Native English speakers seem to think that being bi-lingual is some great accomplishment whereas Europeans consider it the norm...

a Test-pool of 317 kids is way too small for any conclusive results...

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

I think it's probably worth noting that the research was carried out on kids that had already started to stutter.

Secondly, I'd like to know the socio-economic background of the kids selected. I've tried pulling up the original article, but no success yet.

The educational background of the family will have a huge influence on the development of the child. I think you should both ^^ be proud and pleased to have been in, or provided an environment that was conducive to development.

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More lucky to have been in an environment that allowed us to have a broader perspective on things . . . in many ways - one needs only look at some of the other threads on this forum.

Yes, I absolutely agree that the educational background of the family has a huge influence on the children, the emphasis placed on learning and education in general guides the children and I doubt you will find many highly/well educated parents not willing their children to be the same.

gjbkk - Welsh? geez, where would you get the support structure for that? I've only just seen the language written and can imagine it would be very, very difficult . . . what's the grammar like?

Yeah, a breakdown in social class and ethnic background of the family would be interesting to see.

I thought stuttering a dialect of English?

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Originally Posted by klongmaster

a Test-pool of 317 kids is way too small for any conclusive results...

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Fair comment but note title;

Early bilingualism may increase stutter risk

The control groups is very small. This premise of the article sounds very eye catching/intriguing/interesting but if you think about it I think you will see that the core value of the author is flawed/tainted/prejudiced. Consider a study to see if people with varying skin colors do well or fail on English standardized tests. The results could be made to seem that one culture is superior than another. In reality, everyone does well in different areas. A person good at English may fail at math or music. This study implies that bi-lingual (which could mean Mixedbreed OhMy!) children are impaired or disadvantaged in some way. The truth of the matter is that they have a wider perspective and are better prepared for life. Sure it may take them longer to speak or to read but in the end they will be superior to the other children. They will have abilities and thought patterns that the other children will never achieve.
To add perspective I am writing this with my own bias. My child is bilingual because my wife and I are bilingual.

Fair point, but have you read the original research?

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

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Originally Posted by klongmaster

a Test-pool of 317 kids is way too small for any conclusive results...

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Fair comment but note title;

Early bilingualism may increase stutter risk

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Let also put it into perspective. It is one study. Much, much much more study will need to be done to determine anything. Sheesh, the group was based on

"The research was conducted among 317 London children who were referred to a speech therapist when they were aged between eight and 10. One in five of the stutterers were bilingual, speaking English at school and a second language at home."

1 in 5 stutters were Bilingual!? The title could have read "Early monolingualism is FOUR times more likely to produce stutters than bilinugual children!"

Was this one speech therapist? Where were they based? (for instance if it was Birmingham, shouldnt the title read 1 in 5 muslims become stutters?)

Was there a control group?

Paper selling headline. nothing more.

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

Fair point, but have you read the original research?

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have you ?

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

I googled the author but the article's not up yet.

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You're not far out there KW.

Till we can see the original resource we're none the wiser.

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Originally Posted by wandering

Mixedbreed

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biracial. thank you

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

Fair point, but have you read the original research?

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have you ? - NO see above.

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

I googled the author but the article's not up yet.

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I freely admit to not reading the original. I've stressed the use of the conditional tense.

I'm not suggesting that it's gospel but, I do think it's interesting for people, particularly parents, living in multilingual societies.

Surely you don't condemn everything carte blanche, because it's in a newspaper.

An exchange of views, opinions and experiences can be helpful.

Don't you agree?

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Originally Posted by wandering

This study implies that bi-lingual (which could mean Mixedbreed OhMy!)

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Could, but not would. My brother's kids are all bi-lingual and not mixed. Not all the same second language, however.

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

(for instance if it was Birmingham, shouldnt the title read 1 in 5 muslims become stutters?)

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When were you last in Birmingham KW?
There are lots of other minority groups there.

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

When were you last in Birmingham KW? There are lots of other minority groups there.

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not all that relevant to the point I was making.

Actually that was supposed to be a funny reference to Emporer Tud's assertions that Birmingham is being overrun by muslims. Does not change the substance of what I was saying.

The headline could have said fat children are more likely to stutter.

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

Actually that was supposed to be a funny reference to Emporer Tud's assertions that Birmingham is being overrun by muslims.

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Yes, I thought it might have been and was going to comment but I'm too scared of his wrath..........:)

I wonder if fat kids do?
Ugly kids?

Hmmm interesting.

I studied linguistics at Uni many moons ago. The idea at the time was that it didn't matter how many languages (well, maybe 30 might be a *bit* much!) a child was exposed to as they developed -- they will pick out the correct phonemes and sounds relevant to each language and learn to apply them correctly.

This all takes place automagically up to about the 5 or 6 year old stage when the "critcial period" ends and it becomes hard to learn languages, or effectively, learn them with the same difficulty we adults generally have.

As far as stuttering is concerned -- in my experience, it was never anything to do with language acquisition or second/third/N language learning. If anything it's down to either 1) mental/physical disorder or 2) psychological, which I suspect is probably the issue here. And by psychological I don't mean anything scarey or insulting but general things like feeling rushed, too many thoughts to articulate quick enough, nervousness, etc. Same things we get as adults but for a child, magnified many more times.

Many kids when they are growing up and learning more than one language natively, will often have times when sounds/words/grammatical structures swap and glide -- it's nothing to worry about as they sort themselves out.

Pretty amazing things, the human brain.

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Originally Posted by SwiftNeddyJ

general things like feeling rushed, too many thoughts to articulate quick enough, nervousness, etc.

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Exactly.

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Originally Posted by SwiftNeddyJ

"critcial period"

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entering the "cognitive"

Interesting points and all part of the mystery. Good contribution.

or indeed, I wonder how many of the 317 were gay?

"Study shows that gay children may be at risk of stuttering!"

"Research shows that stuttering children may be more likely to become Gay"

the list could go on.

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

"Research shows that stuttering children may be more likely to become serial posters on Teak Door". the list could go on.

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You might be right there.
You might be right there.
You might be right there.

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

Fair point, but have you read the original research?

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Nope.
Basing my statement on the small article that got this ball rolling.

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Originally Posted by wandering

Nope. Basing my statement on the small article that got this ball rolling.

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Me too, mate. Me too.

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Originally Posted by jandajoy

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

"Research shows that stuttering children may be more likely to become serial posters on Teak Door". the list could go on.

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You might be right there.
You might be right there.
You might be right there.

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gotta green ya for that one.

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Originally Posted by panama hat

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Originally Posted by wandering

This study implies that bi-lingual (which could mean Mixedbreed OhMy!)

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I was sarcastically implying that the author might use such put-down terminology in their bigotry.

Could, but not would. My brother's kids are all bi-lingual and not mixed. Not all the same second language, however.

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My daughter is Aussie/American and understands English & Thai so obviously I agree. I was trying to emphasize the prejudiced goals of the article.

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

"The research was conducted among 317 London children who were referred to a speech therapist when they were aged between eight and 10. One in five of the stutterers were bilingual, speaking English at school and a second language at home."

1 in 5 stutters were Bilingual!? The title could have read "Early monolingualism is FOUR times more likely to produce stutters than bilinugual children!"

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Not really, I think. The critical point which is missing from the information we have at the moment is "what is the proportion of bilingualism in the local population from which this cohort is drawn"?

So, we need the other half of the equation. Take an age matched group (kids aged between 8 and 10) at random and look at the rate of bilingualism. If, say, only 1% of the matched cohort is bilingual, then the authors are right - stuttering is more likely in bilingual kids (they are significantly over represented amongst stutterers). If however the local community is very mixed, and there are 20% bilingual kids in the normal population, then the study is wrong.

My guess (FWIW) is that the critical point missing is that bilingualism is not present at a rate of 20% in the local school going population, and hence bilingual kids are more likely to stuter than non-bilingual kids.

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Originally Posted by nidhogg

is that bilingualism is not present at a rate of 20% in the local school going population,

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I'm not so certain about that, we are talking about migrant filled England here. this could well be a population of 45% bilingual children....

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

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Originally Posted by nidhogg

is that bilingualism is not present at a rate of 20% in the local school going population,

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I'm not so certain about that, we are talking about migrant filled England here. this could well be a population of 45% bilingual children....

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Indeed. As I said, thats the critical factor.