Language and fluency characteristics of preschoolers' multiple-utterance conversational turns

The present study examined language and fluency characteristics of single-utterance (SU) and multiple-utterance (MU) conversational turns produced by 15 preschoolers who stutter and 15 age- and sex-matched preschoolers who do not stutter. Participants conversed with a parent in a play seating. Each interaction was videotaped and the participants' resultant utterances were transcribed and analyzed. Results indicated that the children's utterances from MU-turns typically served assertive functions and were significantly longer and more linguistically complex than their utterances from SU-turns. Neither group showed a significant difference in disfluency rate for length-matched utterances from MU- and SU-turns. Similarly, there were no significant between-group differences in speaking-turn length or frequency of MU-turns. Although present findings do not support the hypothesis that MU-turns directly affect children's fluency, they do suggest that MU-turns are demanding for youngsters because they evoke relatively long and complex utterances. As such, conversational turn length seems to be an important variable for clinicians to consider when assessing and treating children who stutter.