Comorbidity of stuttering and disordered phonology in young children

Young stutterers frequently exhibit concomitant speech and/or language disorders. The co-occurrence of these disorders is, however, not yet well understood. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the notion of "comorbidity" as it relates to the field of speech-language pathology: specifically, to discuss comorbidity (coexistence) of stuttering and disordered phonology in young children. Literature on concomitant speech and language disorders in young stutterers is reviewed, with special reference to the prevalence of articulatory/phonological disorders in young stutterers. Future research on the coexistence of two speech and language disorders is encouraged, as well as the consideration of diagnostic treatment and prognostic implications for children who exhibit both stuttering and disordered phonology as opposed to children who exhibit each disorder in isolation.