FULLERTON : Grant Received for Study of Stuttering

A Cal State Fullerton professor has been awarded more than $200,000 to compare the effectiveness of two methods of treating stuttering in children.

The one-year grant of $224,273 was given by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to Glendon D. Riley, a professor emeritus of speech disorders at the Fullerton campus. The institute also has agreed to support the three-year study with additional funding through August, 1995, university officials said.

The study will focus on about 60 children ranging from 3 to 9 years old. About 40 of the participants will be children who stutter--a problem that can prove seriously debilitating, if it continues into adolescence and beyond, Riley said.

He and fellow researcher Janis Costello Ingham, a professor of speech and hearing at UC Santa Barbara, plan to evaluate the two primary treatment methods. The “learned behavior” treatment rewards children for proper responses. The alternative method, “motor therapy,” trains children to produce smooth, accurate syllables, Riley said.

“No one has ever compared the effectiveness of these two particular treatments,” said Riley, a Laguna Beach resident who has been a member of the Fullerton faculty since 1966.

The professor emphasized that children who stutter will receive appropriate treatment tailored to their specific needs during the study.

“Most will respond to the therapies under study,” he said. “For those who do not, we will have a very clear idea of what treatment may be more effective.”