Stutterers needed for study into cause

IN THE largest study of its kind international researchers, including experts from Queensland, will investigate the genetics of stuttering – with the hope of targeting the cause rather than just the symptoms.

In Australia, 8 per cent of three-year-olds and 11 per cent of four-year-olds stutter and the speech problem affects one in 100 adults.

The researchers need 3000 Australians who stutter to help search for the gene in human DNA that can cause the speech disorder.

Experts from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, US and the Netherlands are recruiting people aged seven and older who stutter, or have a history of stuttering, for the Genetics of Stuttering Study.

QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and Griffith University experts will join The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the University of Melbourne in co-ordinating the global project’s Australian arm.

MCRI and the University of Melbourne Professor Angela Morgan said although the exact cause of stuttering was unknown, genetics had been found to play a role and researchers had identified four genes that might be linked to stuttering.

“Globally, 1 per cent of adults stutter and nearly 70 per cent of people who stutter report a family history of the disorder,” Professor Morgan said.

“Boys are two to five times more likely to stutter than girls, and they are also less likely to recover without therapy.”

Brisbane’s Hayley Rayner has had a stutter since she was able to talk.

The 10-year-old has taken part in the Lidcombe Program, a treatment for young children with the speech disorder.

Mum Nicole said the program had made a huge difference to Hayley.

“She started as a five on the stutter scale, which is from one to nine, and is now down to a one,” she said.