Listen "Is stuttering an umbrella pathology?"
Episode Synopsis
Episode #185: Looks like stuttering is a lot more complex than we think! And that makes researching the cause, treatment, and cure an astronomical challenge. On this episode, I chat with my friend, Dr. Greg Snyder, who is a professor and stuttering researcher at Ole Miss, about the complexity of stuttering and stuttering research. What if scientists looked at stuttering as an umbrella pathology instead of a singular one? Could this approach be the key to finally unraveling the mysteries of our speech?
There’s documented evidence that stuttering is a genetic pathology (at least for around 5% of folks with persistent developmental stuttering). Greg ponders that there could be many different genetic mutations that ultimately result in different stuttering behaviours; and the genetic heterogeneity of stuttering makes it difficult to research and treat. Science may be better off looking for many different needles in a haystack instead of just one.
Greg and I also chat about unfortunate biases in research, how darn difficult it is to conduct control groups in stuttering research, and why the heck we call coffee shop employees “baristas”.
Links mentioned on this episode:
Klara G Roman
Music used in this episode:
Perpetual Motion (instrumental) by destinazione_altrove
Photo credit (except for the image of Franky Banky):
BrokenCities
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