Unraveling the biology of a mysterious condition: stuttering

Holly Nover grew up trying to hide her stutter.

“I was very self conscious,” said the 40-year-old St. Johns, Florida mom, whose 10-year-old son Colton also has a speech impediment. “So I developed habits to switch my words so it wouldn’t be noticed.”

For centuries, people have feared being judged for stuttering, a condition often misunderstood as a psychological problem caused by things like bad parenting or emotional trauma. But research presented at a science conference on Saturday explores its biological underpinnings: genetics and brain differences.

“By understanding the biology, we’re going to decrease the stigma. We’re going to increase the acceptance,” one of the speakers, Dr. Gerald Maguire, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. He's a California psychiatrist who is involved in testing potential medications for stuttering based on the science.

Globally, 70 million people stutter, including President Joe Biden, who has spoken publicly about being mocked by classmates and a nun in Catholic school for his speech impediment. He said overcoming it was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.

After a campaign event in 2020, his struggle came to the fore when he met a New Hampshire teen who also stuttered. Brayden Harrington said after his dad told him about Biden, he wanted to introduce himself and shake hands. They wound up talking for an hour.

Living with a stutter hasn’t been easy, Brayden said, recalling a particularly difficult moment years ago when he got caught on words reciting the Gettysburg address in class, then went home and cried.

“I want to carry on what Joe Biden said to me,” he said. “That this does not define you and that you can be much more than you see yourself as.”

WHY DO PEOPLE STUTTER?

Stuttering has been documented as far...