Late Recovery from Stuttering: The Role of Hand ‎Dominancy, Fine Motor and ‎Inhibition Control

There are controversial reports about factors that affect recovery from stuttering. In the ýpresent study, the effect of hand dominancy, fine motor and inhibition control on late ýrecovery from stuttering was investigated among a group of Kurdish-Persian children who ýstuttered in Iran.ý
Twenty-two Kurdish-Persian children aged 7-14 years who stuttered were followed for 6 ýyears. Based on the evaluation of three experienced speech therapists and parental judgments, ýthese children were classified into recovered or persistent groups. Data about fine motor ýcontrol of hand and inhibition control were obtained, using Purdue Pegboard and Victoria ýStrop Color Word Tests, respectively. Risk factors including sex, age, and family history of ýstuttering, handedness, inhibitory control and fine motor control of hand were compared ýbetween the groups and modeled to predict recovery from stuttering using logistic regression.ý
From the 22 participants, 5 (22.7%) recovered from stuttering. The recovered and persistent ýgroups did not show significant differences in the interference effect. By dividing the scores ýof the Purdue Pegboard tests to the right and left hand, we created a new Handedness Index ýý(HI). HI was significantly higher in the recovered group. The score of right hand was higher ýthan the left in the recovered group, but no difference was found between the two hands in ýthe persistent group. Among the investigated risk factors, only HI could predict the recovery ýfrom or persistency of stuttering with 94% sensitivity and 84% specificity.ý
Handedness Index can predict the recovery from stuttering significantly among children who ýstutter.ý