Fight or Flight: Biobehavioral Stress Responses in Bilingual Children Who Stutter During Everyday Communication Interactions

Pilot Project

Project Summary

Stuttering affects many children and can make communication difficult. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and challenges in school and social life. Children who speak two languages (bilingual) may face even more difficulties because they have to manage two languages every day. This project will study how stress affects bilingual children who stutter, especially during everyday conversations. Researchers will use wearable devices to measure stress levels and collect speech data to understand how these children react in real-life situations.

What this new project will do

Recruit
Participants

Recruit bilingual and monolingual children who stutter and those who do not.

Measure Stress Responses

Use wearable devices to measure stress responses like heart rate and skin conductance.

Record Speech Interactions

Record speech interactions using audio devices to study language use and communication patterns.

Analyze Stress Factors

Analyze how different situations and language use affect stress levels.

Share Findings

Share findings with families, educators, and healthcare providers to improve support for children who stutter.

Why This Research Matters

Understanding how stress affects children who stutter, especially bilingual children, can help improve treatments and support systems.

Improve Treatments

Help improve treatments and support systems for children who stutter.

New Insights

Provide new insights into how everyday interactions impact speech and emotional well-being.

Better Tools

Lead to better tools and strategies for helping children communicate more confidently.

Reduce Long-term Effects

Reduce the long-term effects of stuttering through evidence-based approaches.

Key Facts About Stuttering

Stuttering affects 5-8% of the population over their lifetime, significantly impacting children’s social, emotional, and educational development.
The risk of developing a social anxiety disorder is 6 times greater in school-age children who stutter, and this risk increases up to 34 times in adults who stutter.
The growing bilingual population in the US has a 1.3 to 3.1 times higher prevalence of stuttering diagnoses among bilinguals.

Pilot Project