Concordant anatomical and functional connectivity changes in developmental stuttering

Stuttering is based on a maldevelopment of speech-relevant brain regions and is associated later in life with left perisylvian grey and white matter anomalies and right-hemispheric functional compensation attempt. We hypothesized that in adult stutterers left-hemispheric structural anomalies alter the functional connectivity of the speech production network which prompts stutterers to use right-hemispheric strategies to reduce symptoms. To study anatomical and functional connectivity during overt reading, we performed a structural (DTI) and functional (EPI) study on 13 male adult stutterers and 13 male matched f…