{"id":78976,"date":"2025-08-13T06:08:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/78976\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T06:08:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:08:06","slug":"genetics-of-stuttering-early-interventions-could-help-as-many-as-400-million-people-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/78976\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetics of stuttering: Early interventions could help as many as 400 million people worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

A global study <\/a>has identified the DNA markers for stuttering, providing a genetic link that will pave the way for clinicians to predict which family members will experience the speech disorder affecting more than 400 million people worldwide.<\/p>\n

The new research, published in\u00a0Nature Genetics, has confirmed the hereditary link after one million people across the globe provided\u00a0saliva samples<\/a>, including 1380 samples provided by multi-generational Western Australian families through the Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic in collaboration with Wayne State University in Detroit.<\/p>\n

The study\u2014the largest genetic analysis of stuttering\u2014uncovered 48 genes associated with stuttering and 57 associated genomic hotspots as well as finding a genetic link between stuttering and neurodiversity, emotional regulation and musical rhythm, suggesting a neurological basis for stuttering.<\/p>\n

Co-author Associate Professor Janet Beilby, the Founder of the Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic in the Curtin School of Allied Health, said the research was groundbreaking for the millions of families affected by this common speech condition.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Beilby\u2019s own research\u2014along with other authors of this\u00a0Nature\u00a0publication Dr. Emily Lowther and Ms Kathy Viljoen, also from the Curtin School of Allied Health\u2014has demonstrated that stuttering can impact the family and every part of the child\u2019s life into adulthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis finding is life-changing for all those children who\u00a0stutter<\/a>. Stuttering is more than just a stutter\u2014most children with a speech or language disorder (most notably a stutter) will be bullied at school and adults who stutter may face challenges in the workplace that can negatively affect their\u00a0mental health<\/a>\u00a0and social well-being,\u201d Associate Professor Beilby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on what we\u2019ve found in this research, we will be able to take a DNA sample and predict if the individual is likely to stutter or not. If we can identify who in a particular family will develop a stutter, we can intervene earlier to prevent the potentially life-long consequences of stuttering that many people experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

10-year-old Harriet Hewitt, the fourth-generation member of her family to stutter, took part in the global study with every generation up to her great-grandfather providing saliva samples to help map the genetic link.10-year-old Harriet Hewitt, the fourth-generation member of her family to stutter, took part in the global study with every generation up to her Great-Grandfather providing saliva samples to help map the genetic link. Credit: Curtin University.<\/p>\n

Her mother, Simone, said three of her five children experienced stuttering and she was blown away by what the study had found.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly intervention makes all the difference when you\u2019re dealing with stuttering and I have seen that with my own children,\u201d Mrs. Hewitt said. \u201cHarriet is a bright and bubbly 10-year-old now but when she first started stuttering, she would just go quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has worked so hard with the amazing people at the Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic to find her beautiful voice that now if she stutters, it won\u2019t stop her. This research finding will be a game-changer for my own grandchildren who won\u2019t have to wait until the issue presents to get the support they need. I can\u2019t explain how much of a difference this would make to families like my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developmental stuttering is the most common fluency disorder with more than 400 million people affected worldwide and a lifetime prevalence of five to eight percent among global populations with a higher prevalence in Australia\u2014up to 11%.<\/p>\n

Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over\u00a0100,000 subscribers\u00a0who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our\u00a0free newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter\u2014daily or weekly.<\/p>\n

Stuttering is a\u00a0speech disorder<\/a>\u00a0characterized by repetitions, prolongations, and unnatural pauses in the flow of the person\u2019s speech. It typically emerges in\u00a0early childhood<\/a>, most commonly around the ages of two to four years.<\/p>\n

This ground-breaking research was conducted at the Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic in collaboration with Dr. Shelly Jo Kraft from Wayne State University, as well as researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the University of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough comes as the Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic, founded by Associate Professor Beilby following her own family\u2019s experience with stuttering, celebrates its 40-year anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

The largest stuttering\u00a0treatment<\/a>\u00a0facility in Western Australia, the Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic offers services to people of all ages for the management of stuttering and fluency disorders, carving out an international reputation for research into new treatment approaches.<\/p>\n

A version of this article was originally posted at Phys.org <\/a>and is reposted here with permission. Any reposting should credit both the GLP and original article. Find Phys.org on X @physorg_com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A global study has identified the DNA markers for stuttering, providing a genetic link that will pave the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[200,79],"class_list":["post-78976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-genetics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}