Many [research summaries ](https://new.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/15dltbl/megacollection_tips_to_improve_stuttering_from/)that I wrote indicate that there are white/grey matter differences between people who stutter and non-stutterers aka structural differences. Although, as per these research studies, it's not clear if this causes stuttering, as brain functions can also cause structural differences. And thus, recent research (2020-2024) seems to be inconclusive. So what are likely - major - reasons why speech therapists stand behind the hypothesis that structural brain differences causes stuttering, in my opinion? I think that below reasons (see below list) are major reasons why the SLP community stands behind the idea that structural differences cause stuttering (and thus, we should always expect and go from the assumption that we will always stutter resulting in fully immersing ourselves in or acting as such). Reasons: * SLPs want to prevent feeling responsible if a therapeutic intervention does not prove effective for PWS (so out of convenience for SLP's sake they simply give the blame to structural differences) * SLPs find it concerning that it is possible that brain/neurological differences in people who stutter might be the result of stuttering and not it's cause. Because the neuro-physiological nature of this disorder helps greatly in allowing one to accept and make peace with it (so again, out of convencience they justify structural differences; out of their selective reasoning and they reject opposing arguments if it differs from their own narrative) * SLPs provide the argument: "But what-if it fails? Then there is always the chance that it leads PWS to develop a trauma." (I think that this belongs in the category catastrophizing. Or rather **fearmongering**? .. for political, social, or other manipulative purposes) * SLPs want to prevent the potential embarrassment (for themselves and their researchers) if they are found to have been wrong and misleading PWS for so many years. It would create great turmoil in academia, and thus, many textbooks would then become obsolete, doctoral dissertations would then be found worthless, reputations in shreds etc * Speech therapists might ignore the significance of inhibition, compensation and error responses causing brain function differences, and in the long run, causing structural differences. Inhibition (such as, reactive inhibitory control), compensatory responses (such as relying on tension or coping mechanisms/anticipation/past experiences/what-ifs) and error responses (such as, hyper-monitoring, excessively focusing on (linguistic) factors etc). If inhibition, compensation and error responses become a habitual response it might result in habitual dysfunction in the left-hemisphere and overactivation in the right-hemisphere, and thus, such habitual responses - in the long run - might result in **reduced** white/grey matter (structural differences) in the left-hemisphere, and **increased** white/grey matter in the right-hemisphere (structural differences) * Speech therapists ignore the significance of psychological or environmental factors (such as, depression, anxiety, trauma or stutter triggers) causing brain function differences, and thus in the long run, causing structural brain differences. Or, speech therapies might ignore the fact that brain structure changes in response to learning, new experiences or neuroplasticity. For example, anything related to brain function includes psychology. And thus, psychology changes neurological brain activity. And thus, brain activity changes brain structure * Other reasons might be: Speech therapists go from the assumption that there is only one type of speech block (in developmental stuttering) - rather than multiple types; Speech therapists might believe that, if PWS don't anticipate or 'feel' a stutter coming, and if this leads to stuttered speech production, then it must be caused by structural differences - rather than simply a lack of mindfulness or being a different type of speech block or repressed feelings/expectation/trigger etc Your thoughts?