by Claire Miller
Adults who struggle to read often read at a slower pace and with lower accuracy compared to their peers.
They can also have difficulties with spoken language skills, such as difficulties with understanding and using words, and recognizing and working with sounds associated with spoken language.
Reading and spoken language skills are closely connected, and adults who struggle in these areas may be at a higher risk for speech difficulties, such as stuttering, a neurodevelopmental disorder that disrupts the flow of a person’s speech.
College of Education & Human Development faculty members Ai Leen Choo, Daphne Greenberg and Hongli Li and CEHD alum Amani Talwar (Ph.D. ’19) conducted a study to learn more about stuttering rates for adults who struggle to read and to better understand the relationship between their speech and reading skills.
The study, which is the first publication to examine stuttering in adults who struggle with reading, included 120 participants. These individuals completed a series of standardized reading-related assessments; answered questions about whether they’d been tested for a learning disability, whether they attended special education classes and other similar questions; and were asked to speak about a positive reading experience and a negative one.
The research team transcribed participants’ oral responses and analyzed their responses for speech disfluencies. Their results, published in the Journal of Learning Disabilities, noted that about 18 percent of participants met the criteria for stuttering – noticeably higher than the estimated 1 percent of the general population who stutters.
“The higher rate of stuttering in adults who struggle with reading concurs with neuroimaging and genetics studies that have found overlaps between stuttering and reading impairment,” Choo said. “Stuttering may mask any improvements in reading gains, particularly if the assessments require oral speech. Thus, it is important to screen for stuttering in adult literacy programs.”
Based on the study’s standardized reading assessments, adult struggling readers who stutter did not show weaker reading skills compared with their peers who do not stutter.
However, the researchers found that adult struggling readers who stutter showed a lack of synchronization between their reading and reading-related skills compared to their peers who do not stutter. For example, the reading comprehension ability of adult struggling readers who stutter was not consistent with their phonological awareness skills.
“These results suggest that adult struggling readers who stutter have challenges coordinating various reading skills and may use different reading strategies compared to their peers who do not stutter,” Choo said. “Educators need to be aware that instruction for adult struggling readers who stutter may need to address both stuttering and reading strategies.”
About the Researchers
Ai Leen Choo
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Assistant Professor Ai Leen Choo focuses her research on understanding the development of children who stutter, including bilinguals, and the utility of brain-based treatment in stuttering. She directs the Stuttering and Bilingualism Lab, which works to better understand how stuttering can impact children and adults’ cognitive functioning and their experiences in schools and the workplace. Choo co-hosted a conference for Friends: The National Association for Young People Who Stutter, a nonprofit organization that serves as a resource for children and teens who stutter, on Georgia State University’s campus.
Daphne Greenberg
Department of Learning Sciences
Daphne Greenberg is a distinguished university professor in the Department of Learning Sciences and director of the Adult Literacy Research Center. She is involved in multiple Institute of Education Sciences-funded research projects focusing on adults who struggle with foundational academic skills, such as argumentative writing, reading comprehension and U.S. civics/history content areas.
Hongli Li
Department of Educational Policy Studies
Professor Hongli Li is a professor who primarily researches applied measurement and quantitative methods in education. In particular, she is interested in test validity and fairness, and how testing influences teaching and learning (cognitive diagnostic modeling and formative assessment). Her most recent work includes peer assessment and measurement issues in the online learning environment.
Amani Talwar (Ph.D. ’19)
CEHD alum
Amani Talwar earned her Ph.D. from the College of Education & Human Development in 2019 and served as a postdoctoral research associate in the college’s Department of Learning Sciences. She currently serves as a researcher at the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research.
Citation
Choo, A.L., Greenberg, D., Li, H., and Talwar, A. “Rate of Stuttering and Factors Associated With Speech Fluency Characteristics in Adult Struggling Readers.” Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2023 Jan-Feb; 56(1): 7-24. DOI: 10.1177/00222194221095265.
Funding
This research was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305C120001 Georgia State University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the institute or the U.S. Department of Education.