New research into genetic links to stuttering tipped to be 'life-changing' for those with speech condition
Growing up with a stutter, it was difficult to find her voice.
"I couldn't really say sentences that I wanted," she said.
"I would basically just want to be like other kids, but I don't want to be like them anymore."
Now she speaks with confidence, after mostly overcoming her stutter — a condition which has affected four generations of her family.
Stuttering affects more than 400 million people worldwide, and most commonly emerges in early childhood around the ages of two to four.
Half of Harriet's siblings have stutters, along with her mum, grandmother, grandfather, great-grandfather and other family members.
Now a new global study has identified a hereditary link associated with stuttering.
Harriet and her family gave DNA samples, some of the 1,380 that came from WA, as a part of a global study that has discovered stutterers have a hereditary link.
The research was conducted by the Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic in collaboration with Wayne State University in Detroit.
It involved samples from one million people and identified 48 genes associated with the condition, paving the way for clinicians to predict which family members will experience the condition.
Research co-author and Curtin Stuttering Treatment Clinic founder, Professor Janet Beilby said the findings were groundbreaking.
"We found consistent DNA results, 48 of them, and in addition to that we found 57 [genomic] hot spots so it's very exciting because with these hot spots we can dig further," Professor Beilby said.
Professor Beilby said the findings will enable clinicians to intervene earlier, crucial in treating the speech disorder.
"Based on what we've found in this research, we will be able to take a DNA sample and predict if the individual is likely to stutter or not," Professor Beilby said.
"It means those particular young people will be offered early intervention straight away hopefully, and in doing that we can curtail what can be otherwise a lifelong disability.
Associate Professor Beilby said the research would be "life-changing for all those children who stutter".
"Most children with a speech or language disorder will be bullied at school and adults who stutter may face challenges in the workplace that can negatively affect their mental health and social wellbeing,' she said.
Harriet's mum Simone Hewitt said she is hopeful the next generation of her family will reap the benefits of the study.
"When I look at my whole family you always wonder if there is a genetic link and what I think is absolutely amazing is that we now know there is a genetic component," Ms Hewitt said.
"For my family I think it's very exciting, I think about what it could do for my grandchildren because obviously we have a strong link with stuttering and communication," Ms Hewitt said.
"I think it would be absolutely amazing to know my grandchildren as infants can be tested and go right, we can start now."
Harriet said she is happy the research will have positive effects on others.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Great Barrier Reef coral cover decline shows 'ecosystem under stress'
Parts of the Great Barrier Reef have experienced the largest annual decline in coral cover in nearly 40 years, with experts warning it faces a future of "increased volatility". According to the latest annual survey from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), hard coral cover declines in 2025 were largely driven by climate change-induced heat stress, leading to mass bleaching events and exacerbated by cyclones, floods, and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish. While the coral losses were significant, they came off a high base, with observed coral cover now sitting at "near to long-term average levels". Rising ocean temperatures, floods, and cyclones were all compounding the impacts of recent bleaching events. "We are now seeing increased volatility in the levels of hard coral cover — this is a phenomenon that emerged over the last 15 years and points to an ecosystem under stress," Dr Emslie said. AIMS has been monitoring and surveying the Great Barrier Reef for 39 years. It noted the 2024 mass bleaching event was the fifth to hit the region since 2016, and the largest ever recorded on the Great Barrier Reef. The stunning, varied colour of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef is the result of a unique, symbiotic relationship between the hard coral and zooxanthellae algae. The coral gives the algae a protective environment, and the algae feeds the coral. But when the ocean gets too hot, the coral polyps can become stressed and expel the zooxanthellae, which triggers the bleaching effect. Without food for too long, the coral can starve and die. In the latest AIMS survey results, the most impacted coral species were the Acropora, which is susceptible to heat stress and a favoured food of the crown-of-thorns starfish. "These corals are the fastest to grow and are the first to go," Dr Emslie said. "This is also the first time we've seen substantial bleaching impacts in the southern region, leading to the largest annual decline since monitoring began." AIMS surveys 124 individual reefs across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), and analyses results for three regions: the Northern GBR from Cape York to Cooktown, Central GBR from Cooktown to Proserpine, and Southern GBR from Proserpine to Gladstone. One of the main measures used to monitor the condition of the reef is the percentage of hard coral cover, which describes the proportion of the sea floor that is covered in hard coral. Compared to figures from 2024, the Southern GBR saw a 30 per cent decline in coral cover — the largest annual decline ever recorded, bringing it below the long-term average. Coral cover in the Central and Northern GBR remains above long-term averages, but both regions saw significant declines compared to 2024, of 14 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. Based on historical surveys, AIMS defines reefs with between 30-50 per cent coral cover as "high value" — that is, they're relatively healthy. Of the reefs surveyed, AIMS found that two had less than 10 per cent coral cover, 77 between 10 and 30 per cent cover, 33 between 30 and 50 per cent cover, 10 between 50 and 75 per cent cover, and two had greater than 75 per cent coral cover. While there has been an overall decline, the Great Barrier Reef has "fared relatively better" than other parts of the world because of its size and its varied habitats. The Caribbean, for example, has suffered high mortality on almost all of its reefs, and very little coral remains. "The Great Barrier Reef currently retains higher coral cover than many reefs globally; however, mass coral bleaching events are now occurring with increasing frequency, while recovery periods are decreasing," the report said. One of the successes noted in the survey was the ongoing efforts to monitor and control crown-of-thorns starfish. Crown-of-thorns starfish can grow up to 80 centimetres in diameter, with up to 21 arms covered in hundreds of toxin-tipped thorns, and they can consume vast amounts of coral. The starfish are native to the Great Barrier Reef, but since the 1960s their numbers have increased significantly. Exactly what is behind the booming population is still being studied, but increased nutrient availability from land run-off, which increases phytoplankton, has created more food for COTS larvae, and may be leading to more adults. Over the past year, the federal government's crown-of-thorns starfish control program has culled over 50,000 starfish, injecting them with vinegar or ox bile. "Due to crown-of-thorns starfish control activities, there were no potential, established, or severe outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish recorded on Central GBR reefs in 2025," the AIMS report noted. As global carbon emissions continue to rise, so too does the temperature of the sea water that covers the Great Barrier Reef. The latest reef update from the Reef Authority shows that even as water temperatures declined during winter, they were still around 0.8 degrees above the long-term average. Earlier this year, the GBR experienced its sixth mass bleaching event since 2016. Up until the 1980s, coral bleaching at this scale was rare. "This year, Western Australian reefs also experienced the worst heat stress on record. It's the first time we've seen a single bleaching event affect almost all the coral reefs in Australia," AIMS CEO Selina Stead said. "Mass bleaching events are becoming more intense and are occurring with more frequency, as evidenced by the mass bleaching events of 2024 and 2025." This was the second time in the past decade that a reef experienced back-to-back bleaching events in consecutive years. Coral reef systems can take up to 10-15 years to recover. "The results from this year really underscore the amount of stress the Great Barrier Reef is under," Dr Emslie said.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
Productivity Commission urges against over-regulating AI, flags $116bn growth potential
The government has been warned against implementing stifling and unnecessary red tape around the growing AI sector, urging that 'technology-specific regulations' should be used 'as a last resort'. In what is the body's third out of five reports ahead of the Albanese government's economic reform roundtable later this month, the Productivity Commission found AI could 'likely' boost productivity by 2.3 per cent and labour productivity growth of 4.6 per cent, or $116bn, over the next decade. While the PC warned there was 'considerable uncertainty' in the figures, it listed examples like fraud detection and warnings by banks, robotic sorting in agriculture and teaching tools at unis and schools. The report, released on Tuesday, urged the government to use existing regulations as the starting point, however 'burdensome regulation' and a lack of certainty was disincentivising investment appetite in the sector. The regulation of AI-based medical devices through the TGA was used as an example in the report, noting that if a device already fulfils the guardrails set by the regulatory body, the government shouldn't raise the regulatory burden which would force companies to demonstrate further compliance. Commissioner Stephen King said regulation should be used to limit the risks, but not stifle growth potential. Risks were identified as bias and discrimination, mistakes, emission of information and threats from harmful actors like the spread of fake content to manipulate public opinion. 'Like any new technology, AI comes with risks. But we can address many of these risks by refining and amending the rules and frameworks we already have in place,' Commissioner King said. 'Adding economy-wide regulations that specifically target AI could see Australia fall behind the curve, limiting a potentially enormous growth opportunity.' On the impact of AI on the workforce, the report also acknowledged that while technology changes will 'inevitably' involve 'painful transitions' and job losses, it could also lead to a greater demand 'for other tasks performed by humans'. 'To the extent significant job displacement does occur the Australian government may need to consider support for retraining of workers, as has occurred in the past when there have been changes to the way jobs are undertaken,' it said. 'The social safety net of unemployment assistance would also be available.' The role of AI in boosting productivity will be heavily discussed at the upcoming economic reform roundtable from August 19-21, with one session set to be dedicated to 'AI and innovation'. The session will also be attended by Strategic Examination of Research and Development chair Robyn Denholm and CSIRO chair Ming Long, Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed on Tuesday. Mr Chalmers said he was 'optimistic' about the ability for AI to 'completely transform our economy' and lift living standards, and said the government was 'realistic about the risks'. 'We're confident we can deploy artificial intelligence in a way consistent with our values if we treat it as an enabler not an enemy, by listening to and empowering workers to adapt and augment their work,' he said. 'AI will be a key concern of the economic reform roundtable I'm convening this month because it has major implications for economic resilience, productivity, and budget sustainability.'
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
Renewed calls for ACT specialist Parkinson's nurse
Canberra's Parkinson's community has long been campaigning for the ACT government to employ a specialist Parkinson's nurse who can visit patients at home.
