Research was conducted on the effects of bilingualism in children 5 years and under. The complete results of the study were published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
317 young London children participated in the study and were chosen because they seemed to have speech impediments. Among the bilingual children, a 62% rate of stuttering was discovered by Dr. Peter Howells at University College in London.
The stuttering was observed when the child was speaking in both languages, and seemed to begin close to age 4. Boys were particularly more affected with the disorder than girls, at four times the rate.
According to Dr. Howell, eliminating stuttering is a serious matter, since only 25% of his study’s bilingual children spoke fluidly by the age of 12, and 55% of the non-bilingual children stopped stuttering at the same age.