Winter 2019 Newsletter #6

Department of Radiology

Introduction
Mary Poppins Returns Star and Stuttering
In the midst of the coldest temperatures seen in a generation, we wish
you the warmest greetings and the happiest New Year from our research Emily Blunt is the star of Mary
team! We continue to invite young children and their families to Poppins Returns in theaters
participate in our ongoing studies that aim to discover the neural bases now. Blunt is also an active
of stuttering. The long-term goal of our research is to help lay the supporter of the American
foundation for developing efficacious treatment that can be delivered Institute of Stuttering and
during childhood, so that chronic stuttering may be avoided in the likes to speak about her
future. To date, we have published many of the first studies ever to show experiences with stuttering.
functional and neuroanatomical differences that differentiate children
Says Blunt in an article in W
who stutter from their fluent peers. We have also begun to understand
magazine, “I was a smart kid,
what neural processes may help children recover from stuttering. Our
and had a lot to say, but I just
studies are only possible with the participation of our generous families.
You and your child’s participation makes a
couldn't say it. It would just haunt me. I never
meaningful contribution to the scientific thought I'd be able to sit and talk to someone like
understanding of stuttering. I'm talking to you right now.” While the actress
And for that, we thank you! may have struggled with stuttering in her
childhood, she has often described that acting was
what helped gain confidence in her speech. Emily
Sincerely,
has also spoken openly about her experiences with
Soo-Eun Chang (Principal Investigator)
stuttering as an adult saying that during certain
Speech Neurophysiology Lab/ MSU Developmental Stuttering Project
situations such as when she is tired or when she
Stuttering Research at Local Speech was pregnant, she would notice her stuttering
Pathology Conference becoming more prominent.
The Michigan Speech-Language-
Hearing Association is celebrating its To listen to Emily Blunt speak about her
80th year at the annual convention stuttering, please visit:
held in East Lansing from March 21st to 23rd. On Thursday, Dr. https://youtu.be/qYrEEe1MdxE
Chang, along with MSU faculty members Drs. Amanda Hampton
Wray and Bridget Walsh, will be presenting a mini seminar on To read Today’s piece on Emily Blunt and
“Neuroimaging Research Examining Neural Bases of Childhood stuttering, please visit:
Stuttering.” Also on Thursday, Dr. Garnett will be presenting a https://goo.gl/msnU2s
talk titled “Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation in Adults Who Stutter.”
Graduate and undergraduate students from both UM and MSU You can visit the American Institute for Stuttering
will be presenting on their projects in the lab during the poster online at:
session on Friday. https://stutteringtreatment.org/
For more information on the MSHA Convention please visit:
https://goo.gl/bzvmDN
Now Recruiting Adults Who Stutter!
Dr. Garnett is recruiting adults who stutter to participate in a clinical trial investigating the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation
on speech fluency and brain activity. This study takes place in Ann Arbor.
If you or someone you know may be interested, please contact us at brainspeaks@umich.edu, 734-926-8775, or visit our website:
http://www.neurostutteringresearch.com/participate2/

www.neurostutteringresearch.com
Find Us Online:
www.facebook.com/speechneurophysiology.lab
 Research Presentations
Research updates from the lab:
Recently our lab members gathered in Boston to
present at the 2018 American Speech-Language- Review article in The Neuroscientist
Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention. Among In this new article published in the journal The Neuroscientist,
the presenters was Maddie, shown below with Dr. Chang and colleagues provide a systematic review of the
her poster on measuring stuttering severity! literature to date on the neural bases of stuttering and updated
insights on possible neural mechanisms of stuttering persistence
vs. recovery in childhood. The article features many of the lab’s
recent articles on functional neuroanatomical bases of childhood
stuttering. These include the first longitudinal studies in the field
that involve examination of developmental trajectories
associated children who go on to recover or persist in stuttering.
For more information, see:
Chang S-E, Garnett EO, Etchell A, Chow HM. Functional and
Neuroanatomical Bases of Developmental Stuttering: Current
Insights. Neuroscientist. September 2018. https://goo.gl/kTPPx8
You can read more about our presentations:
goo.gl/QYeekg
Lab Member Spotlight: Language and the Brain Presentation
Yiling “Saro” Liu At the 2018 ASHA conference in Boston, Greg Spray, a doctoral
Please welcome Saro Liu to student working in the lab, presented research findings on the
our lab, a first year PhD student relationships between the brain’s white matter tracts and
at Michigan State University! language development in children. Certain white matter tracts
Saro is a first year PhD student (that can be compared to electrical cables that carry electrical
in the program of Communicative impulses between different brain areas) enable certain linguistic
Sciences & Disorders at Michigan State functions such as syntax (grammar) and lexical (vocabulary)
University. She is from China and received development. Structural integrity of such tracts was found to be
her bachelor’s degree of science in Applied attenuated in children who stutter compared to fluent peers. The
Psychology from Tianjin Normal University fluent children showed a significant association between the
in 2018. Saro is interested in studying strength of the white matter integrity in the language supporting
developmental stuttering and is motivated tracts and language performance, while children who stutter did
to elucidate the underlying neural not. Ongoing research aims to reveal how such differences
mechanism from different aspects such as emerge as the children develop, and whether such changes
interhemispheric inhibition and motor differentiate persistence vs. recovery.
timing.
Doctoral student Greg Spray
Simone
Visiting Scholar from the and Generation
Netherlands, R Koenraads!
Dr. Simone presenting his work on the
relationship between brain
Dr. Koenraads is a physician and doctoral candidate at the Department of structure and language
Otorhinolaryngology and Speech and Hearing Centre at Erasmus University Medical development in children
Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Her research focuses on stuttering and structural who stutter
brain development in young children. Her research project is embedded in the
Generation R Study (R stands for Rotterdam), a large population-based birth cohort
in the Netherlands. This study includes an MRI sub-study, which is one of the largest
neuroimaging studies in children worldwide. Currently, Dr. Koenraads is visiting us
to collaborate on two longitudinal projects: one examining structural brain changes
in children with persistent stuttering and those who have recovered, the other
examining gray and white matter volume differences in children who stutter versus
fluent peers. Academic exchange and collaboration among researchers in the same
field is mutually beneficial to further our knowledge and understanding of
stuttering. We are excited to welcome her have her work with us!

Madeline VanEck Denise London

We are actively searching for more
Research Project Manager Research Project Manager
participants for each of our studies. If you are
MSU Offices UM Offices
interested or know of anyone who might be
517-884-3286 734-926-8775
interested in participating, please contact us!
speechlabmsu@gmail.com brainspeaks@umich.edu