Stuttering is most often associated with observable disruptions to the flow of speech, but it can affect much more than how a person talks. Living with stuttering can influence a person’s confidence, relationships, success in school and work, and even their overall quality of life.

Researchers in MSU’s Developmental Speech Laboratory, housed within the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, were recently awarded $3.1 million from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, for a five-year study that aims to understand why some children who stutter experience more negative impacts from their stuttering than others. This research is the first large-scale longitudinal study focused on the development of stuttering’s adverse impact on children.

“We don’t yet understand how the negative effects of stuttering develop in children because we haven’t figured out which personal or environmental factors put some kids at higher risk, or which factors help protect them,” said Bridget Walsh, the lead researcher of the study. “This lack of knowledge makes it harder to intervene early and prevent the serious, long-term problems that stuttering can cause.”