Bilingualism and stuttering Literature review and implications for clinical diagnosis

Abstract

Bilingualism has often been viewed as having a negative impact on the development of language and speech fluency in young children. However, recent studies suggest that typically developing bilingual children produce more stuttering-like disfluencies in their speech compared to monolinguals, which could increase the risk of false-positive diagnosis of stuttering if we use the diagnostic criteria based on monolinguals. This article aims to review the literature addressing the existing interactions between stuttering and bilingualism. More specifically, it provides the readers with evidence-based information regarding the manifestations of speech disfluencies and stuttering in bilingual children, and some perspectives to consider in establishing a more reliable differential diagnosis.