Just more Junk Science, me thinks.

NEW YORK — Why people stutter has long been a medical mystery, with the condition blamed over the years on emotional problems, overbearing parents and browbeating teachers. Now, for the first time, scientists have found genes that could explain some cases of stuttering.

Researchers taking part in a government-funded study discovered mutations in three genes that appear to cause the speech problem in some people. Stuttering tends to run in families, and previous research suggested a genetic connection. But until now, researchers had not been able to pinpoint any culprit genes.

Dennis Drayna, a geneticist and senior author of the study, said he hopes the results help convince doubters that stuttering "is almost certainly a biological problem."

The research — released Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine — also points to a possible enzyme treatment for stuttering someday.

Without a known cause, stuttering has been attributed to such things as nervousness, lack of intelligence, stress or bad parenting. Stutterers were told it was all in their heads. Fraser said parents contact her group worried they have done something to cause their children's stuttering. Were they too strict? Too attentive? Didn't pay enough attention?

http://www.ajc.com/health/scientists-find-first-genes-296912.html