Prevalence of Stuttering in Kurdish-Persian Consecutive Bilinguals in Iran

Abstract

Aims: Studies on prevalence of stuttering in bilinguals are scarce and contradictory. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of stuttering among Kurdish-Persian bilingual students in Javanroud, one of the Kurdish cities in the west of Iran. Method: All bilingual students in the city participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. We used teacher referral method for the primary screening of speech disorders. Essential information about speech disorders, especially stuttering, had been given to teachers before the primary step. The referred students were interviewed and both Kurdish and Persian spontaneous speeches were recorded. Recordings were assessed by two speech-language pathologists. Stuttering was confirmed when both specialists agreed on the diagnosis. Student's parents provided the demographic information and history of bilingualism and stuttering of their children. Results: Among 11,425 participants, 1.12% were identified as stutterers. In primary, junior high, and high school the prevalence of stuttering was 2.03%, 0.87%, and 0.5%, respectively. The prevalence of stuttering among boys was 1.35%, and 0.85% among girls. An overall male to female ratio for stuttering was 1.6. Mean age of onset was approximately 5 years. Conclusion: Further epidemiologic studies on different types of bilinguals and different paired languages are necessary.