PhD candidate

Status

I am currently pursuing a joint PhD at Hacettepe University and Ghent University.

Research

In my PhD project “The Effect of Age and Time Pressure on Speech Disfluencies in Turkish Children Who Do and Who Do Not Stutter,” I aim to examine how age, time pressure, and individual factors influence speech disfluencies in Turkish-speaking children. First, we will explore disfluency patterns in typically fluent children aged 7–18 across age, gender, socioeconomic status, and speech type. Consequently, we compare children who stutter and those who do not (ages 11–14) during tasks performed under time pressure and without time pressure, while also assessing anxiety and temperament. This research seeks to clarify developmental, emotional, and situational influences on disfluency, contributing to better understanding and management of stuttering in everyday communication.

Background information

I graduated from the undergraduate program of the Department of Speech and Language Therapy at Hacettepe University in 2019. I graduated from the master’s program in the same department in 2022. I have been working as a research assistant since 2020 and was an exchange student at Ghent University, Department of Speech and Language Therapy, in 2024.