Michigan State University’s Developmental Speech Laboratory received a $3.1 million NIH grant to fund a five-year longitudinal study of how stuttering affects children. The project will identify which personal and environmental factors increase risk or provide protection against stutter-related harm. Researchers will collect data from children who stutter, their parents, and speech-language pathologists to guide earlier, personalized interventions and improve long-term outcomes.
MSU Wins $3.1M NIH Grant for Five-Year Study on How Stuttering Impacts Children
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University’s Developmental Speech Laboratory has received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund a five-year, large-scale longitudinal study examining how stuttering affects children.
Study Goals and Significance
The research will investigate why some children who stutter experience more severe negative effects than others by identifying the personal and environmental risk and protective factors that shape a child’s experience. According to MSU, this is the first large-scale longitudinal study specifically focused on the adverse impact of stuttering in childhood.
Building on Earlier Research
The new award builds on work begun under a previous five-year NIH grant awarded in 2020 that explored how stuttering develops in young children. The current study extends that work by tracking outcomes and the broader consequences of stuttering over time.
Methods
Over five years, the research team will collect longitudinal data from children who stutter, their parents, and speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The data will help researchers identify individual characteristics and environmental influences that increase risk or provide protection against stutter-related challenges.
“We still do not understand how the harmful effects of stuttering emerge in children because we haven’t identified which personal or environmental factors place some kids at higher risk or which factors protect them,”
Bridget Walsh, Associate Professor in MSU’s Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders, said in a news release.
Walsh and the research team hope that identifying those risk and protective factors will enable earlier, more personalized interventions that can prevent long-term social, emotional, and educational consequences often associated with untreated stuttering.
The project aims to translate findings into practical guidance for clinicians and families so interventions can be timely and tailored to each child’s needs.
For more information and project updates, MSU and the Developmental Speech Laboratory will share findings as the study progresses.
