Exploratory Study of Children Who Stutter and Those Who Do Not Stutter on a Visual Attention Test

Models of interhemispheric interference have been proposed as an explanation for the cause and maintenance of stuttering. One component of this model is attentional functioning and allocation. This study examined attentional functioning in 19 children who stuttered and 19 children who did not stutter using a standardized, commercially available visual attention task. Results revealed no significant differences between the groups on total T-scores and on 6 of the 7 subscales of the visual attention task. Eleven (58%) children who stuttered earned significantly different scores on the risk-taking subscale, suggesting greater impulsivity than children who did not stutter. No significant relationships were found between stuttering severity, onset of stuttering, and performances on the visual attention task. Implications for models of stuttering and future research are discussed.