An Adaptation Effect in Bilingual Adults Who Stutter Suggests Their Motor Learning is Influenced by Language Factors.

Stuttering is progressively reduced when persons who stutter repeatedly read the same text. This reduction has been recently attributed to motor learning with repeated practice of speech-motor sequences. In the present study, we investigated the adaptation effect of 17 bilingual adults who stutter (BAWS). We asked these participants to complete a particular paradigm of reading passages with a 30-minute break between them. Participants were Kannada-English speaking BAWS. We split them into two groups of eight and nine participants, respectively who read in counter-balanced order two passages written in the Kannada and English languages. The averaged data from the two groups resulted in a typical adaptation curve for the five readings when read separately in both languages. When there was a switch from readings in Kannada to readings in English, there was a significant increase in the percentage of syllables stuttered. This increase in dysfluencies reduced the adaptation effect from repeated reading. These findings support the hypothesis that motor learning plays a crucial role in stuttering adaptation when participants read the same passage repeatedly in any language, but the shift in the language read suggests an interference in motor learning. Collectively, our results highlight an interaction effect between motor learning and language proficiency, seen by increased dysfluencies and a reduced adaptation effect in bilingual speakers.

Long-term evaluation of psychosocial impact and stuttering severity after intensive stuttering therapy.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term stability of objective and subjective psychosocial improvements and fluency more than 10 years after participation in an intensive stuttering therapy camp. METHOD: Ten former participants in intensive stuttering therapy (IST; mean age at time of intervention 14; 2 years) participated in this study. Outcomes of the IST at that time were assessed with the Stuttering Severity Instrument (SSI-3; Riley, 1994) and a questionnaire to measure the psychosocial impact of stuttering. A semi-structured video call and a general questionnaire for the long-term evaluation were used to gauge the participants' perceptions of the IST. These follow-up data were compared to the therapy outcomes reported by Cook (2011, 2013). RESULT: Therapy effects on the severity of stuttering and psychosocial impact were stable over the follow-up period of more than 10 years. Moreover, scores for psychosocial impact and severity of stuttering further decreased from the end of the IST to the long-term evaluation. The intensive time and the periodically offered follow-up treatments were described as particularly positive by the participants. CONCLUSION: Intensive stuttering therapy in childhood or adolescence can have a long-term positive effect on both internal and external stuttering symptoms.

Contemporary clinical conversations about stuttering: Can intervention stop early stuttering development?

PURPOSE: To discuss whether early intervention can stop stuttering development. To inform junior clinicians and students of speech-language pathology about contemporary views on this issue. METHOD: The issue was discussed by two university researchers and two speech-language pathologists who provide public clinical services. Written conversational turns in an exchange were limited to 100 words each. When that written dialogue was concluded, each participant provided 200 words of final reflection about the issue. RESULT: Most differences that emerged centred on the clinical evidence base for early intervention, which emphasises stuttering reduction, and how it should be interpreted. CONCLUSION: The evidence base for early intervention has limitations and it should be interpreted cautiously. One interpretation is that reducing stuttering severity is a justifiable core of early management. Another interpretation focuses on ease of communication, anticipation of stuttering, and covert stuttering.

Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea relieves stuttering priapism in patient with sickle cell disease: a case report.

Background: Stuttering priapism is recurrent, self-limited episodes of sustained penile erection and is common in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Prevention of stuttering priapism is important to avoid progression to episodes of ischemic priapism which can cause erectile dysfunction. Priapism has been shown to be associated with increased nocturnal hypoxemia in patients with SCD. Case Description: A 43-year-old male with nocturnal episodes of stuttering priapism that was refractory to treatment with multiple medications was found to have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Following treatment of this condition with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the patient had immediate symptom relief and has had three months without an episode of priapism. Conclusions: OSA should be considered as an underlying cause of nocturnal stuttering priapism in patients with SCD, particularly in patients who present with stuttering priapism later in life or patients who present strictly with nocturnal episodes. Appropriate management of OSA can significantly decrease the incidence of stuttering priapism in patients with SCD.

Public attitudes toward stuttering and cluttering in Chinese and Japanese speech-language pathology students.

PURPOSE: This study utilized the Chinese and Japanese translations of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) and Cluttering (POSHA-Cl) to compare the differences in (a) attitudes towards stuttering versus cluttering in speech-language pathology (SLP) students in either China or Japan, (b) attitudes of SLP students in China versus Japan towards either stuttering or cluttering, and (c) attitudes of Chinese and Japanese students versus international databases for stuttering and cluttering. METHOD: The POSHA-S and POSHA-Cl were both administered to 99 SLP students from six universities in China and 352 SLP students from two universities in Japan. RESULTS: Attitudes toward stuttering were markedly different for Chinese versus Japanese students. Overall, stuttering attitudes were slightly more positive than cluttering attitudes in both countries; however, compared to China, Japanese SLP students attitudes toward stuttering and cluttering were more disimilar. In addition, compared with the international database, the attitudes of Chinese and Japanese SLP students toward self-reactions to both disorders were more positive. CONCLUSION: Chinese and Japanese SLP students' attitudes toward both stuttering and cluttering are likely to be influenced by geography, culture, education, and the "halo effect." The attitudes of the SLP students in China and Japan are more negative than the attitudes as shown in the global data.

Perceptions of and beliefs about stuttering in the Hispanic/Latino community.

PURPOSE: The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate perceptions of people who stutter and beliefs about the causes and cures of stuttering within the Hispanic/Latino community. METHODS: Respondents who were 18 or older and of Hispanic/Latino origin were invited to respond to a 24-question online survey. Questions involved exploring familiarity with and beliefs regarding etiologies, treatment approaches, treatment providers, stereotypes, and perceptions of people who stutter. Data from 151 respondents were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Results revealed that the most commonly held beliefs regarding the causes of stuttering were being "born with it", an "emotional disturbance or trauma", a "brain disorder", and/ or a "sensory impairment". The most frequently cited beliefs regarding treating stuttering were "therapy", "rehabilitation", and "tell them to slow down". Over 75 % of respondents believed that "speech therapists" can cure or treat stuttering. Respondents' perceptions of people who stutter are that they are generally "nervous" and "shy". CONCLUSIONS: Common beliefs and perceptions relative to stuttering were identified in the Hispanic/Latino community. The beliefs one holds about the cause of stuttering as well as their negative perceptions of stutterers may contribute to the continued stigmatization of people who stutter. Implications are discussed regarding the need for culturally appropriate education for individuals who stutter, their families, and the general public.

Corrigendum: Identifying stuttering in Arabic speakers who stutter: development of a non-word repetition task and preliminary results.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fped.2022.750126.].

A theory building critical realist evaluation of an integrated cognitive-behavioural fluency enhancing stuttering treatment for school-age children. Part 1: Development of a preliminary program theory from expert speech-language pathologist data.

PURPOSE: This study initiated a program of research that aims to develop a program theory underlying integrated cognitive-behavioural fluency enhancing stuttering treatments for school-age children. This research asks, what in the treatment program works (or does not work), for whom, in what contexts, and why. METHODS: Using a critical realist evaluation approach, seven speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with extensive experience in treating children who stutter were asked about barriers and facilitators of optimal treatment outcomes within the context of the Comprehensive Stuttering Program - School-aged Children (CSP-SC). From these data discrete resource mechanisms, contexts, within child reasoning mechanisms, and outcomes were derived and a preliminary program theory was proposed. RESULTS: Facilitating and impeding child physiology, treatment and SLP resource mechanisms, family and school contexts, and within-child mechanisms were identified. Facilitating mechanisms included motivation, personality/psychological characteristics, understanding and trust of the treatment process, experience of speaking with less effort, and self-efficacy. Impeding mechanisms included reduced motivation, impeding personality/psychological characteristics, lack of buy-in, and, for some children, a prohibitive cost of effort in using learned strategies. CONCLUSION: A preliminary program theory was hypothesized which will be further developed in future analysis of data obtained from children and parents who participated in the CSP-SC at the same centre from which the SLPs came. Subsequent research with new cohorts of SLPs, children, and parents from other treatment programs and centres will be needed to establish the generalizability of the program theory generated in this program of research.

Explicit and implicit cognitive processes of the public towards people who stutter.

PURPOSE: The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes - Stuttering (POSHA-S, St. Louis, 2013) was developed as a standard measure of public attitudes about people who stutter. As with any survey-based methods, threats to validity may occur because of social desirability bias. Using computer mouse-tracking, we were interested in observing changes in cognition that are manifested in intentionality through action by evaluating underlying cognitive processes that drive social judgments of people who stutter. METHODS: Twenty-two women, 1 non-binary person, and 47 men reported using a computer mouse to complete an online, remote, and modified version of the POSHA-S. Responses were categorized as correct/helpful or incorrect/unhelpful relative to each component of the POSHA-S and were used as measures of explicit cognitive processes. Computer-mouse trajectory metrics, including area under the curve (AUC) and reaction time (RT), were used to measure implicit cognitive processes. RESULTS: Although participants' explicit responses were significantly more likely to be correct/helpful than incorrect/unhelpful, with endorsement of correct/helpful prompts 77 % of the time, participants also endorsed incorrect/unhelpful prompts more than half (i.e., 52 %) of the time. Familiarity with people who stutter was associated with disagreeing with incorrect/unhelpful prompts. As indicated by greater AUC, participants exhibited significantly more implicit cognitive processes indicating competition when responding "disagree" compared to "agree", regardless of whether the prompts were correct/helpful or incorrect/unhelpful. Similarly, participants took significantly longer to respond to prompts with "disagree" rather than "agree". CONCLUSION: The findings of this study offer evidence of participants reporting cognitive processes that are overall more correct/helpful than incorrect/unhelpful, in their explicit responses to the dichotomous response tasks of the POSHA-S. However, these findings are tempered by evidence of a tendency to agree with statements in the measure and suggest the need for further research to increase understanding of how to measure and improve explicit and implicit cognitive processes related to people who stutter.

Corrigendum: Stuttering in individuals with Down syndrome: a systematic review of earlier research.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1176743.].

Psychedelics in developmental stuttering to modulate brain functioning: a new therapeutic perspective?

Developmental stuttering (DS) is a neurodevelopmental speech-motor disorder characterized by symptoms such as blocks, repetitions, and prolongations. Persistent DS often has a significant negative impact on quality of life, and interventions for it have limited efficacy. Herein, we briefly review existing research on the neurophysiological underpinnings of DS -specifically, brain metabolic and default mode/social-cognitive networks (DMN/SCN) anomalies- arguing that psychedelic compounds might be considered and investigated (e.g., in randomized clinical trials) for treatment of DS. The neural background of DS is likely to be heterogeneous, and some contribution from genetically determinants of metabolic deficiencies in the basal ganglia and speech-motor cortical regions are thought to play a role in appearance of DS symptoms, which possibly results in a cascade of events contributing to impairments in speech-motor execution. In persistent DS, the difficulties of speech are often linked to a series of associated aspects such as social anxiety and social avoidance. In this context, the SCN and DMN (also influencing a series of fronto-parietal, somato-motor, and attentional networks) may have a role in worsening dysfluencies. Interestingly, brain metabolism and SCN/DMN connectivity can be modified by psychedelics, which have been shown to improve clinical evidence of some psychiatric conditions (e.g., depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, etc.) associated with psychological constructs such as rumination and social anxiety, which also tend to be present in persistent DS. To date, while there have been no controlled trials on the effects of psychedelics in DS, anecdotal evidence suggests that these agents may have beneficial effects on stuttering and its associated characteristics. We suggest that psychedelics warrant investigation in DS.

Behind the mask: Stuttering, anxiety, and communication dynamics in the era of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: While wearing masks during the pandemic poses communication and social challenges for people in everyday life, those with social anxiety might find them plausible, aligning with contemporary cognitive theories. Social anxiety involves fearing negative assessments and holding a negative self-image. Concealing anxiety symptoms during mask use may contribute to a more positive self-perception. AIMS: Given that up to 60% of adults seeking stuttering treatment also meet criteria for social anxiety disorder, this study aims to investigate the complex relationship between communication freedom, self-perceived stuttering and anxiety in adults who stutter (AWS). The unique context of mandatory mask-wearing during the pandemic provides an opportunity to explore these dynamics and understand the conflicting relationships between stuttering, anxiety-related safety behaviours and the need for open communication in AWS. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Twenty AWS participated in interviews, responding to open-ended questions to elucidate their affective, cognitive and behavioural experiences while wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thematic analysis was used to identify the emerging themes and subthemes based on information-rich quotes, employing a six-phase recursive process. Various speech and anxiety-related measures were used to describe the characteristics of the study participants. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Three main themes and sub-themes emerged. The first theme highlights communication challenges for AWS wearing masks, impacting verbal and nonverbal interactions. The second theme reveals AWS wearing masks to conceal stuttering cues, experiencing reduced stress. The third theme indicates that, despite the comfort in concealment, most AWS prefer speaking freely without a face mask. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The conflict between the desire for authentic, fluent communication and the ease of hiding stuttering symptoms poses a major dilemma for AWS. According to the results of this study, most adults who stutter prioritize open communication. However, there were some individual differences. A major factor influencing their decision was their fear of negative evaluation. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject The prevalence of social anxiety is higher among adults who stutter (AWS), possibly stemming from their prior negative experiences with stuttering. In response, AWS may adopt adaptive or maladaptive coping behaviours to manage stuttering and mitigate fears of negative evaluation. Maladaptive strategies, like avoiding certain communication situations, can diminish their satisfaction with everyday speaking situations. What this study adds This study leveraged the mask-wearing mandate during the pandemic to explore the intricate relationship between anxiety-related symptoms and communication. While some participants saw masks as a plausible means to conceal stuttering and anxiety, most preferred open communication without the challenges posed by masks. Our findings offer additional support for the varied emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses that AWS may display in response to changes in daily life, emphasizing the individual differences within this population and highlighting that stuttering goes beyond observable speech dysfluencies. What are the clinical implications of this work? Our study underscores the need for comprehensive therapeutic interventions addressing both the physical and cognitive-emotional aspects of stuttering in AWS. Recognizing the role of safety behaviours and self-focused attention emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach, enhancing communication efficacy and social well-being for AWS. Addressing speech fluency alone, without considering pertinent cognitive-emotional factors, falls short in providing adequate stuttering treatment.

Mitigating stuttering self-stigma: How do we start and where do we go? Using a Participative Concept Mapping Approach to develop a local framework of principles.

PURPOSE: This study aims to create a stigma reduction framework for stuttering in the local context of Québec, Canada using the Participative Concept Mapping Approach (PCMA), focusing on both self and societal stigma. METHOD: Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study engaged 17 experts-people who stutter, clinicians and health innovation specialists-in PCMA workshops. Via diverse steps, including generation, sorting and rating of ideas in response to the focus prompt, "To effectively address stuttering (self-)stigma, an intervention should…" these sessions led to a framework depicted in visual maps, then refined into actionable principles through qualitative analysis. Mixed-methods data analysis used the open-source R-CMap software to generate visual maps illustrating the relationships among ideas as well as importance and feasibility ratings. RESULTS: The collaborative workshops identified 95 ideas in response to the focus prompt, reunited in 7 clusters, evolving into 16 principles to mitigate stuttering stigma and self-stigma. At the therapy level, these principles emphasize personalized therapy, thorough assessments, stigma-free therapeutic environment, empowerment, and the importance of group inclusivity and educating the relational circles. Societally, they advocate for initiatives such as improved educational outreach, empathy enhancement, and better representation. This dual approach targets individual experiences and societal views on stuttering, stressing the need for an all-encompassing intervention framework. CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate PCMA's usefulness in crafting local, culturally sensitive, tailored interventions for stigma reduction. The study emphasizes the necessity of holistic approaches that address individual experiences and societal perceptions, offering a model to conduct similar exercises in diverse local settings.

Stutterers' experiences on classic psychedelics: A preliminary self-report study.

Stuttering poses challenges to social, occupational, and educational aspects of life. Traditional behavioral therapies can be helpful but effects are often limited. Pharmaceutical treatments have been explored but there are no FDA-approved treatments for stuttering. Interest has grown in the potential use of classic psychedelics, including psilocybin and LSD, which have shown effectiveness in treating disorders with similar symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, PTSD). The potential effects of psychedelics on stuttering have not been explored. We conducted a preliminary investigation of self-identified stutterers who report their experiences taking classic psychedelics on the online messaging forum, Reddit. We qualitatively analyzed 114 publicly available posts, extracting meaningful units and assigning descriptor codes inductively. We then deductively organized responses into an established framework of psychedelics which includes behavioral, emotional, cognitive, belief-based, and social effects. These effects were subsequently grouped under organizing themes (positive, negative, neutral). Descriptive statistics revealed that the majority of users (74.0%) reported positive overall short-term effects particularly related to behavioral and emotional change (e.g., reduced stuttering and anxiety), but negative (9.6%), mixed (positive and negative; 4.8%), and neutral overall experiences (11.6%) were also reported. The results support the possibility that psychedelics may impact stuttering, but caution must be applied in their interpretation given the entirely uncontrolled research setting and potential adverse health effects of psychedelics as reported elsewhere. While these results do not encourage the use of psychedelics by stutterers, they suggest that future work could examine the impact of psychedelics on stuttering under supervised and in clinically controlled settings.

Allergies, asthma, and sleep problems in adults who stutter.

PURPOSE: Previous studies have suggested that allergies, asthma, and sleep problems are prevalent in those who stutter. This study analyzed similar data for a broad age group of adults who stutter (AWS). METHOD: Data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey were analyzed. Adults from 18 to 60 + years of age reported a) to have stuttered, b) to have had any allergy, asthma, or acid reflux, c) to have had insomnia/trouble sleeping and daytime negative consequences, and d) average sleeping hours per day in the past 12 months. RESULTS: The sample included 320 AWS and 33,043 controls. AWS were at greater odds of respiratory, food, and skin allergies (OR = 2.38, 2.36, and 2.09, respectively), as well as asthma and acid reflux (OR = 2.30 and 2.01, respectively) than controls. AWS were at greater odds of insomnia/trouble sleeping, oversleeping, excessive sleepiness, and fatigue than controls (OR = 2.11, 1.71, 2.67, and 1.81, respectively). The subgroup of AWS with no allergy, asthma, and acid reflux were also at greater odds of insomnia/trouble sleeping and excessive sleepiness than controls (OR = 2.13 and 3.11, respectively). Differences were found in specific age groups: younger/middle-aged AWS reported more allergies, asthma, and acid reflux than controls, while older AWS did not; younger/middle-aged AWS reported more insomnia/trouble sleeping than controls, while older AWS reported more oversleeping. CONCLUSIONS: Findings on younger and middle-aged AWS are similar to previous ones on children and adolescents who stutter. Differences regarding younger/middle-aged and older AWS could be consequence of environmental variables.

Validity and utility of the Japanese version of the brief unhelpful thoughts and beliefs about stuttering scale: UTBAS-6-J.

Do adults who stutter have abnormally high social anxiety? Is it related to maladaptive cognition? As these are persistent, unresolved questions in stuttering research, it behooves clinicians to at least assess and attempt to identify social anxiety in patients who stutter and its basis before decisions are made about stuttering treatment. The Unhelpful Thoughts and Beliefs About Stuttering (UTBAS) scale is a self-administered questionnaire that measures the degree of non-adaptive cognition in people who stutter (PWS) due to social anxiety. The 66-item UTBAS is time-consuming to complete, prompting the development of a shorter 6-item version, the UTBAS-6, which is in English. Here, we aimed to assess some psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the UTBAS-6, the UTBAS-6-J, which has not been done to date. In 56 adult patients (mean 32.6 ± 11.1 years) who stutter, we quantified the reliability, the internal consistency, and the concurrent validity of the UTBAS-6-J. Along with the UTBAS-6-J, patients also were administered the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering - Japanese version (OASES-A-J), the Modified Erickson Communication Attitude Scale - Japanese version (S-24-J), and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale - Japanese version (LSAS-J). Cronbach's alpha for UTBAS-6-J total scores was 0.974, indicating excellent internal consistency. UTBAS-6-J scores were significantly correlated with scores on the OASES-A-J, the S-24-J, and the LSAS-J (all p < 0.005). Concurrent validity of the UTBAS-6-J with these three questionnaires was confirmed. The UTBAS-6-J has good internal consistency and concurrent validity, which will aid clinical decision-making about stuttering treatments.

Reactive Inhibitory Control Precedes Overt Stuttering Events.

Research points to neurofunctional differences underlying fluent speech between stutterers and non-stutterers. Considerably less work has focused on processes that underlie stuttered vs. fluent speech. Additionally, most of this research has focused on speech motor processes despite contributions from cognitive processes prior to the onset of stuttered speech. We used MEG to test the hypothesis that reactive inhibitory control is triggered prior to stuttered speech. Twenty-nine stutterers completed a delayed-response task that featured a cue (prior to a go cue) signaling the imminent requirement to produce a word that was either stuttered or fluent. Consistent with our hypothesis, we observed increased beta power likely emanating from the right pre-supplementary motor area (R-preSMA)-an area implicated in reactive inhibitory control-in response to the cue preceding stuttered vs. fluent productions. Beta power differences between stuttered and fluent trials correlated with stuttering severity and participants' percentage of trials stuttered increased exponentially with beta power in the R-preSMA. Trial-by-trial beta power modulations in the R-preSMA following the cue predicted whether a trial would be stuttered or fluent. Stuttered trials were also associated with delayed speech onset suggesting an overall slowing or freezing of the speech motor system that may be a consequence of inhibitory control. Post-hoc analyses revealed that independently generated anticipated words were associated with greater beta power and more stuttering than researcher-assisted anticipated words, pointing to a relationship between self-perceived likelihood of stuttering (i.e., anticipation) and inhibitory control. This work offers a neurocognitive account of stuttering by characterizing cognitive processes that precede overt stuttering events.

Subtle Patterns of Altered Responsiveness to Delayed Auditory Feedback during Finger Tapping in People Who Stutter.

Differences in sensorimotor integration mechanisms have been observed between people who stutter (PWS) and controls who do not. Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) introduces timing discrepancies between perception and action, disrupting sequence production in verbal and non-verbal domains. While DAF consistently enhances speech fluency in PWS, its impact on non-verbal sensorimotor synchronization abilities remains unexplored. A total of 11 PWS and 13 matched controls completed five tasks: (1) unpaced tapping; (2) synchronization-continuation task (SCT) without auditory feedback; (3) SCT with DAF, with instruction either to align the sound in time with the metronome; or (4) to ignore the sound and align their physical tap to the metronome. Additionally, we measured participants' sensitivity to detecting delayed feedback using a (5) delay discrimination task. Results showed that DAF significantly affected performance in controls as a function of delay duration, despite being irrelevant to the task. Conversely, PWS performance remained stable across delays. When auditory feedback was absent, no differences were found between PWS and controls. Moreover, PWS were less able to detect delays in speech and tapping tasks. These findings show subtle differences in non-verbal sensorimotor performance between PWS and controls, specifically when action-perception loops are disrupted by delays, contributing to models of sensorimotor integration in stuttering.

Localization of stuttering based on causal brain lesions.

Stuttering affects approximately 1 in 100 adults and can result in significant communication problems and social anxiety. It most often occurs as a developmental disorder but can also be caused by focal brain damage. These latter cases may lend unique insight into the brain regions causing stuttering. Here, we investigated the neuroanatomical substrate of stuttering using three independent datasets: (i) case reports from the published literature of acquired neurogenic stuttering following stroke (n = 20, 14 males/six females, 16-77 years); (ii) a clinical single study cohort with acquired neurogenic stuttering following stroke (n = 20, 13 males/seven females, 45-87 years); and (iii) adults with persistent developmental stuttering (n = 20, 14 males/six females, 18-43 years). We used the first two datasets and lesion network mapping to test whether lesions causing acquired stuttering map to a common brain network. We then used the third dataset to test whether this lesion-based network was relevant to developmental stuttering. In our literature dataset, we found that lesions causing stuttering occurred in multiple heterogeneous brain regions, but these lesion locations were all functionally connected to a common network centred around the left putamen, including the claustrum, amygdalostriatal transition area and other adjacent areas. This finding was shown to be specific for stuttering (PFWE < 0.05) and reproducible in our independent clinical cohort of patients with stroke-induced stuttering (PFWE < 0.05), resulting in a common acquired stuttering network across both stroke datasets. Within the common acquired stuttering network, we found a significant association between grey matter volume and stuttering impact for adults with persistent developmental stuttering in the left posteroventral putamen, extending into the adjacent claustrum and amygdalostriatal transition area (PFWE < 0.05). We conclude that lesions causing acquired neurogenic stuttering map to a common brain network, centred to the left putamen, claustrum and amygdalostriatal transition area. The association of this lesion-based network with symptom severity in developmental stuttering suggests a shared neuroanatomy across aetiologies.