The harder you try not to stutter, the worse it gets. That s why I decided to participate in the study at the Research Imaging Center. I do not want others to live in fear, she added. Roger J. Ingham, Ph.D., Health Science Center adjunct professor who is conducting the study, said stuttering usually develops in the preschool years and afflicts 1 percent of the population. About 4 percent have it during their lifetime but some are able to recover, he added.
Recovery is usually fairly easy in childhood with treatment.
After childhood is over , it is much more difficult to treat, he said. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop more effective treatments, especially for adults. Peter T. Fox, M.D., RIC director, said the stuttering study is the first of its kind anywhere. A similar study has already been conducted on 20 male participants. Roger and his wife, Janis Costello Ingham, Ph.D., both speech pathology researchers, are spending three summers in San Antonio conducting the research at RIC, which is the only site in the country with the rare combination of high-tech equipment and qualified support personnel.