Abstract

Introduction. In this work we have investigated the relationship between pharmacological treatment in developmental stuttering (DS) and improvement of verbal behaviour in a case study. In particular, we have studied the manifestation of typical DS dysfluencies and related secondary behaviours before and successively the administration of risperidone, an atypical antidopaminergic drug. DS is a disruption in normal speech fluency and rhythm that usually manifests in childhood and sometimes persists in adulthood. The exact etiology of DS is still unknown, but the dopaminergic neurological component is likely to have a causal role in this dysfunction. "Method". We present the case of a 24-year-old adult male, who is been administered risperidone. Baseline, treatment and washout levels of stuttering behaviours were registered with Stuttering Severity Instrument (Riley, 1980), verbal fluency tasks and an involuntary movements task related to speech. "Results". Our findings show that drug intervention helped the patient in this set of tasks, but especially in tasks involved content-words. "Conclusions". Our results confirm the current dopaminergic viewpoint of DS that could be considered a psycho-motor dysfunction with a multifactorial etiology and confirm the useful of antidopaminergic drugs in stuttering treatment.