Research Update: Is One Language Enough? Assessing Overt Stuttering Severity in Bilingual Children

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Selma Saad Merouwe, Ph.D., Speech-Language Pathologist, researcher, and Assistant Professor at Saint Joseph University of Beirut, joins host Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF, to discuss her recent study, “Is One Language Enough? Assessing Overt Stuttering Severity in Bilingual Children,” co-authored with Raymond Bertram, Ph.D., and Kurt Eggers, Ph.D. Selma begins by providing background on bilingualism and stuttering, including what previous research has suggested about how stuttering may present across languages and some of the challenges clinicians face when assessing bilingual children who stutter.

She then shares more about the distinctive early multilingual language-learning landscape in Lebanon and how it provided an opportunity to explore early bilingualism and stuttering in unique ways. Selma walks listeners through the study design and findings, including what the results may tell us about assessing overt stuttering severity across languages when considering early multilingual language learners. The episode concludes with clinical implications, strengths and limitations of the current research, and areas for continued investigation aimed at supporting more evidence-based and culturally responsive assessment of bilingual children who stutter.

Merouwe SS, Bertram R, Eggers K. Is One Language Enough? Assessing Overt Stuttering Severity in Bilingual Children. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2026 May 8:1-14. doi: 10.1159/000552443. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42102010.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42102010/

Selma Saad Merouwe, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Saint Joseph University of Beirut and a researcher at the Speech Therapy Research Lab. With nearly two decades of experience spanning clinical practice, teaching, and research, her work focuses primarily on stuttering, cluttering, and language disorders. She is a European Stuttering Specialist (certified in 2018) and holds two doctoral degrees in complementary fields: a PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Turku (Finland) and a PhD in Biological and Medical Sciences from Saint Joseph University of Beirut. Her research explores the relationship between stuttering and bilingualism, as well as the cultural and linguistic adaptation of assessment tools for the Lebanese context. Selma is also affiliated with Ghent University (Belgium) as a postdoctoral researcher at the Stuttering Research Group. She collaborates with international research teams on projects examining stuttering across languages and cultures, with the shared aim of supporting assessment and intervention practices that are both evidence-based and culturally responsive. Alongside her academic role, she co-founded Terap Clinics, where she works with children, adolescents, and adults who present with stuttering, cluttering and language disorders. She is actively involved in professional service and advocacy, serving as Head of the Stuttering Committee at the Lebanese Association of Speech and Language Therapists, a member of the Practice Committee of the World Stuttering and Cluttering Organization (WSCO), and Lebanon’s representative in the International Cluttering Association (ICA).