I don’t think you understand what the theory says, nor what the article says. It is a multideterministic theory, meaning it considers how different factors interact in the occurrence of stuttering.First, this is a genetic theory. The precondition for stuttering to exist is genetic predisposition, and the theory seeks to explain the physiological effect of this genetic factor on stuttering. "Secondly, having it be a neurological condition and then also saying it’s caused by emotional reactions seems contradictory. Yes, emotions can exacerbate it, but there’s little to no validated evidence to say that emotions cause stuttering." Nowhere does it state that stuttering is caused by emotional reactions. What it says is that emotions act as triggers for an effect—the "disintegration" of speech—which is physiological and completely involuntary. People who stutter are more susceptible to this effect due to their genetic predisposition. "Also, stuttering has been tied to genetic inheritance within families, which explains the higher prevalence of people with multiple stuttering family members. It’s not from an emotional disposition that is learned or taught." Yes, that’s precisely what a theory that considers genetic predisposition would state. "Stuttering is not a learned behavior from high emotional situations, which is what the 1967 article is essentially claiming." Perhaps there was some confusion regarding the term "emotional learning," but this term does not mean that stuttering is a learned behavior like walking or writing. Emotional learning refers to how new environmental stimuli become emotional triggers through classical conditioning (a concept from behavior psychology) "There are many, many, many cases of young children who stutter who are not aware of it until they are older and don’t display any feelings or negative emotions until later childhood." Whether or not they are aware of their stuttering is irrelevant to the theory since it is a physiological process. Negative emotions do not need to be linked to the child knowing they stutter or suffering because of it—they can stem from any other aspect of their life. For example, a child getting frustrated with a toy, being punished by their parents, or being afraid of the dark are all situations that trigger negative emotions and could lead to the physiological process of speech disintegration if speech occurs at the same moment. For this physiological process, the specific stimulus causing the emotion doesn’t matter—what matters is the presence of the emotion itself. Later, when the child becomes aware of their stuttering, they may develop certain behaviors—these are the learned ones (which ties into the second part of what I explained)—such as pressing their lips together, over-articulating mouth movements, holding their breath, etc. These are dysfunctional strategies to overcome stuttering, which can also worsen fluency. Like every theory that attempts to explain the causes of stuttering, there is not enough evidence for it to be proven; otherwise, we would already have a widely accepted explanation for its cause. What can be done is to examine the evidence and try to piece together the puzzle of stuttering’s causes. What evidence is supported by Brutten and Shoemaker’s theory? * That stuttering has hereditary factors. * That emotions influence stuttering. These two factors are what the theory seeks to connect, using a theoretical model to explain the relationship between genetics and emotions in stuttering. Unfortunately, we still lack concrete evidence regarding the role of emotions in stuttering, as well as genetics or any other factor. We know they likely play a role, but the physiological mechanisms, their relationship, and the extent of their influence remain uncertain.