Stuttering

Definition

Stuttering is a speech problem characterized by repetitions, pauses, or drawn out syllables, words, and phrases. Stutterers are different than people experiencing normal fluency problems because a stutterer's disfluency is more severe and consistent than that of people who do not stutter.

Description

Normal language development in a child can include a period of disfluency. Children might repeat syllables or words once or twice. Sometimes, children experiencing normal disfluencies hesitate during speech or use fillers, including "um," with frequency. These developmental problems usually happen between one and five years of age. Often, parents are concerned about the disfluency they hear in their children. In fact, about 25% of all children experience speech disfluencies during development concern their parents because of their severity.

A child with mild stuttering, however, will repeat sounds more than twice. Parents and teachers often notice the child's facial muscles become tense and he or she might struggle to speak. The child's voice pitch might rise with repetitions, and some children experience occasional periods when airflow or voice stops for seconds at a time. Children with more severe stuttering stutter through more than 10% of their speech. This child exhibits considerable tension and tries to avoid stuttering by using different words. In these children, complete blocks of speech are more common than repetitions or prolongations, during which children lengthen syllables or words.

Stuttering usually begins in childhood when the child is developing language skills, and it rarely develops in adulthood with only 1% of the population affected by the disorder. Stuttering does not affect intelligence. Teens often experience more noticeable problems with stuttering as they enter the dating scene and increase their social interactions. Stuttering can severely affect one's life. Often, adults who are concerned about stuttering choose their careers based on the disability.

The degree of stuttering is often inconsistent. Stutterers can be fluent in some situations. Many find that they stop stuttering when singing or doing other activities involving speech. Some have good and bad days when it comes to stuttering. On good days, a stutterer might be able to talk fluently using words that usually cause him to repeat, pause or prolongate sounds, syllables, parts of words, entire words, or phrases.

Causes and symptoms

There is no known cause of stuttering. Some believe that it has a physical cause and that it might be related to a breakdown in the neurological system. Stuttering starts early in life and often is inherited. Brain scan research has revealed that there might be abnormalities in the brains of stutterers, while they are stuttering. Myths about why stuttering occurs abound. Some cultures believe that stuttering is caused by emotional problems, tickling an infant too much or because a mother ate improperly during breastfeeding. None have been proven to be true. It is believed that some drugs might induce stuttering-like conditions. These include antidepressants, antihistamines, tranquilizers and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Diagnosis

Speech and language therapists diagnose stuttering by asking stutterers to read out loud, pronounce specific words, and talk. Some also order hearing tests. The tests will determine whether or not a person needs speech therapy.

Treatment

Researchers don't understand what causes stuttering. However, progress has been made into what contributes to the development of the disability and, therefore, in some cases it can be prevented in childhood with the help of therapy early on. Therapy can help people of all ages suffering from the speech disability. While not an overnight cure, therapy can offer positive results and more fluent speech patterns. The goals of therapy are to reduce stuttering frequency, decrease the tension and struggle of stuttering, become educated about stuttering, and learn to use effective communications skills, such as making eye contact, to further enhance speech. The therapy focuses on helping stutterers to discover easier and different ways of producing sounds and expressing thoughts. The success of therapy depends largely on the stutterer's willingness to work at getting better.

The duration of stuttering therapy needed varies among stutterers. Sometimes, it helps stutterers if they have therapy intermittently throughout their lives.

Parents, teachers and others can do things to help ease stuttering. These include: talking slowly, but normally, clearly, and in a relaxed manner to a stutterer: answering questions after a pause to encourage a relaxed transaction; trying not to make stuttering worse by getting annoyed by a person's stuttering; giving stutterers reassurance about their stuttering; and encourage the stutterer to talk about his or her stuttering.

Electronic fluency aids help some stutterers when used as an adjunct to therapy. Medications, such as antipsychotics and neuroleptics, have been used to treat stuttering with limited success.

Alternative treatment

Some use relaxation techniques to help their stuttering.

Prognosis

More than three million Americans stutter and four times more males are affected than females. Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Carly Simon, James Earl Jones and King George VI are among the many people who stuttered but went on to live successful professional lives. Decades of research have yielded no answers to the causes of stuttering; still much has been learned about what contributes to stuttering's development and how to prevent it in children. People who stutter can get better through therapy.

Prevention

New and exciting developments are occurring in researchers' understanding of the genetics of stuttering. Researchers are finding the locations of genes that predispose people to stuttering. While genetic factors will not explain all stuttering, genetics will help to uncover the disability's causes. Speech therapy, especially that performed at a young age, can stop the progression of stuttering.

Key Terms

Antipsychotics

A class of drugs used to treat psychotic or neurotic behavior.

Disfluency

An interruption in speech flow.

Neuroleptics

Antipsychotic drugs that affect psychomotor activity.

For Your Information

Organizations

• National Stuttering Foundation of America. 1-(800) 992-9392. http://www.stutteringhelp.org.

• "Stuttering." The Nemours Foundation, KidsHealth.org. http://kidshealth.org.

• The Stuttering Home Page. Minnesota State University, Mankato.

• "What is Stuttering?" Robert W. Quesal, PhD, Professor and Program Director. Communications Sciences and Disorders. Western Illinois University. http://www.wiu.edu.

Source: Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, Published December, 2002 by the Gale Group

The Essay Author is Lisette Hilton.

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