Selma Saad

Accurately distinguishing between normal disfluencies and stuttering in bilingual children is challenging and under-researched, increasing misdiagnosis risks. This thesis studied disfluencies in bilingual Lebanese children (4–7 years), including 22 children who stutter (CWS) and 70 who do not stutter (CWNS). Data comprised 368 speech samples analyzed for stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD) and other disfluencies (OD), with 32 speech-language pathologists (SLPs) assessing diagnostic accuracy.

Findings revealed frequent misidentifications, with CWNS often mislabeled as CWS due to higher SLD counts or misinterpreted physical signs. CWS consistently received higher stuttering severity ratings, but some CWNS scores overlapped due to SLD presence. Bilingual CWNS showed fewer SLDs than CWS but exceeded monolingual thresholds, causing diagnostic overlap.

Language dominance minimally affected disfluency frequency, though specific types varied. Dysrhythmic phonation and repetition frequency reliably predicted stuttering, and combining data from both languages improved classification accuracy. Evaluating disfluency profiles across languages is essential for accurate diagnoses.