Bulletin

Issue: June 2004

Research

What causes stuttering?

Is there a gene - or lack of one - that causes stuttering? The five in every100 people around the world who stutter or once did, will look forward to the results of a research project aimed at finding genes involved in stuttering.

Two prominent La Trobe University researchers in the field of stuttering, Professor Sheena Reilly and Dr Susan Block, are playing leading roles in the project which hopes to have answers by the end of 2004.

Professor Reilly and Dr Block are with La Trobe University's School of Human Communication Sciences. The School runs the La Trobe Communication Clinic that annually treats scores of people who stutter.

Dr Block is a speech pathologist and senior lecturer and Professor Reilly is Chair of Paediatric Speech Pathology, a position jointly funded by La Trobe University and the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH).

The study was launched at a joint conference of the International Stuttering Association and the Australian Speak Easy Association in Fremantle earlier this year, attended by more 300 people who stutter, and those with a professional interest in their affliction.

Members of the research team - called the Stuttering Research Consortium - recruited 68 volunteers from among the delegates who stuttered. Each gave a blood sample that will undergo chromosome analysis.

'We believe there may be a genetic factor in around 60 per cent of those who stutter,' Dr Block said.

'A different or ?broken? chromosome in a person who stutters may help us find a gene for stuttering. This will mean we can identify children who have an increased likelihood of stuttering early and we can increase our understanding of causal factors. This in turn means we can start appropriate treatment at a very early stage,' she said.

La Trobe University's Faculty of Health Sciences gave the Stuttering Research Consortium a $9,660 Faculty Research grant for the study, one of several investigations around the world into the possibility of a genetic link to stuttering.

The Consortium also includes three researchers from the RCH's Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Ms Kathryn Crossland, Dr Peter Farlie, and Dr Richard Anney. Consortium activities are also funded by a generous donation from Mr Phillip Myer.

La Trobe's important role in the project reflects the University's long association with stuttering research and clinical treatment.

Members of the University Communication Clinic played leading roles in the Fremantle conference. Dr Block gave four papers and chaired a plenary session and Professor Reilly also gave an invited paper. Three other La Trobe University staff members, Ms Georgina Dacakis, Ms Fiona Richard, and Ms Brenda Carey, who all work with the Clinic's intensive stuttering program, were delegates to the conference.•

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