Speech therapy ‘can trigger rapid change’ in stammerers

In the film The King’s Speech, it takes years for King George VI to overcome his stammer with the help of maverick therapist Lionel Logue.

But the new research shows that, with the right approach, progress can be rapid – and is reflected by changes in the brain.

Scientists in China tested 28 stammerers who were treated with a therapy that involved repeating two-syllable words and then reading words presented visually.

Scans showed that in stammerers, brain thickness was reduced in an area important to speech and language production called the pars opercularis. Neural interactions in the brain’s cerebellum were also overactive in people who stammered.

The cerebellum is a key motor region where sensory inputs
are used to fine tune move-
ments.

Speech therapy returned functional connectivity in the cerebellum to normal, but did not alter the pars opercularis.

“These results show that the brain can reorganise itself with therapy, and that changes in the cerebellum are the result of the brain compensating for stuttering,” said study author Dr Chunming Lu, from Beijing Normal University in China, whose findings are published online in the journal Neurology.

“They also provide evidence
that the structure of the pars opercularis area of the brain is 
altered in people with stut-
tering.”

Dr Christian Kell, from Goethe University in Germany, who wrote an editorial accompanying the research, said: “These findings should further motivate therapists and researchers in their efforts to determine how therapy works to reorganise the brain and reduce stuttering.”