Stuttering frequency on content and function words in pre-school and school-age Jordanian Arabic-speaking children who stutter

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated the influence of loci of content and function words on stuttering frequency in the speech of Arabic children who stutter. Participants were 85 children who stutter (24 preschool, 61 school age). The preschool children who stutter were 17 males and 7 females with a mean age of 4.58 ± 0.50 (range: 4-5 years old). The school age children who stutter were 56 males and 5 females with a mean age of 10.64 ± 2.76 (range: 6-16 years old). No significant difference was found between the preschool and school age children who stutter in the mean percentage of stuttering on both content and function words. For school age children who stutter, results showed a significantly higher percentage of stuttering on function words compared to content words in the mild level of stuttering (p = .010). Taking severity as a continuous variable, results indicated a significant positive correlation between scores on the Stuttering Severity Instrument-4 (SSI-4) and loci of stuttering on both content and function words. The results also revealed a significant negative correlation between age (as a continuous variable) and loci of stuttering in the category of function words. The findings of the current study provide new information about the impact of word type (function vs. content words) on stuttering in Arabic-speaking children.