Children Who Stutter Have Less-Developed Brains | Medical News and Health Information

Children Who Stutter Have Less-Developed Brains | Medical News and Health Information

Children Who Stutter Have Less-Developed Brains
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Children who stutter have less grey matter in parts of their brain associated with speech than children who do not stutter, according to recent research.

Researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada, scanned the brains of 28 children from ages 5 to 12, half of whom had been diagnosed with stuttering; the other half did not have a stutter. The scans showed the children with a stutter have less developed inferior frontal gyrus regions of their brains, compared to the children who did not have a stutter. This region is believed to be associated with processing and coding what the brain understands about language into speech movements.

“The more we know about motor learning in these kids, the more we can adjust our treatment—deliver it in a shorter period of time, deliver it more effectively,” lead study author Deryk Beal was quoted as saying.

For more information, go to: http://news.ualberta.ca/newsarticles/2013/october/children-who-stutter-have-less-grey-matter-than-non-stutterers

SOURCE: Cortex, October 2013