Stuttering
STUTTERING
Stuttering is a fluency disorder which affects speech. It can begin during childhood, and sometimes may last throughout the course of life. Stuttering is characterized by disruptions in the production of speech sounds. Many people will have disruptions in their speech by repeating some words such as "um" or "uh". These disruptions are not a problem, but once a person produces too many of them do they impede on communication and become a problem.
Stuttering can have an impact on some daily activities but will depend on each individual. These daily activities may include talking on the telephone, or talking before large groups. Some people may have a greater amount of communication difficulties at school, home or work and may limit their participation in certain activities due to their stuttering. These limits in participation happen because the child is scared as to what others will think about their speech. Some people will try to prevent stuttering by rearranging words in their sentence, pretend to forget what they wanted to say, or simply decline to speak. The impact of stuttering on daily life can really affect the person with the stutter.
Signs and Symptoms of Stuttering
The signs and symptoms of stuttering include repetitions of words or parts of words, and prolongations of speech sounds. People who stutter appear to be very tense causing the airflow to be completely stopped or blocked. Blocked airflow occurs when the mouth is positioned to say a word, for few seconds, but no sound is forthcoming. Interjections may also occur during stuttering where the child might say "um" for a long period of time to delay the start of a word that they typically get stuck on.
According to ASHA, examples will include:
"W- W- W- Where are you going?" (Part-word repetition: The person is having difficulty moving from the "w" in "where" to the remaining sounds in the word. On the fourth attempt, he successfully completes the word.)
"SSSS ave me a seat." (Sound prolongation: The person is having difficulty moving from the "s" in "save" to the remaining sounds in the word. He continues to say the "s" sound until he is able to complete the word.)
"I'll meet you - um um you know like - around six o'clock." (A series of interjections: The person expects to have difficulty smoothly joining the word "you" with the word "around." In response to the anticipated difficulty, he produces several interjections until he is able to say the word "around" smoothly.)
Diagnosis of Stuttering
For the appropriate diagnosis of stuttering, a speech therapist will note the number and types of disfluencies that a person has in various environments. Factors such as teasing will be assessed to see if the problem becomes more if a child is getting teased. Other assessments to test speech and language skills will also be done. If a disorder of fluency is found, the extent to which it affects the ability to perform and participate in daily activities is determined. For a young child, it is important to see if the stuttering is likely to continue through their years of life. This will include a lot of tests, observations, and interviews to see if the child is at risk for continuing to stutter. Some risk factors include: a family history of stuttering, stuttering that has continued for 6 months or longer, presence of other speech or language disorders, and strong fears about stuttering on the part of the child or family. There is no one single factor that will determine whether or not the child will continue to stutter. For older children and adults, focusing on the question of whether stuttering is likely to continue is less important, because it has persisted long enough to become a problem in the person's life. Therefore, the severity of stuttering will be tested through observations and tests. At KidsCare, we ensure that we will help your child speak more fluently, while participating more fully in life activities if the stuttering has interfered in doing so.
Treatment for Stuttering
At KidsCare, we believe that the best treatment program is one that is behavioral. This program will teach the person specific skills or behaviors that lead to improved oral communication. Teaching your child to control the rate of their speech, and produce them at a slower rate and with a less physically tense manner will help them. Additionally, learning to control and monitor their breathing becomes very important. When children learn to control their speech rate, they will begin to speak smoothly and much slower than their typical speech. After some time, your child will learn to produce smooth speech at faster rates, in longer sentences and in more challenging situations until their speech becomes more natural and fluent.
When communicating with a person who stutters:
Do not interrupt the person
Do not fill in words for them
Keep eye contact when they are speaking (although it may take time for them)
Give them the time they need to say what they want to say
Do not finish their sentences for them
Causes of Stuttering
There is no known cause of stuttering. Some studies believe that genetics may play a role in the disorder. However, the nature of the exact traits is unclear. For many people, certain life events may be thought to "trigger" stuttering. One of the triggers for developmental stuttering may the development of grammar skills. The child is learning rules of language between the ages of 2 and 5 years, which causes them to make immature messages. When a child produces longer sentences, the child will start trying and may find themselves having a challenge. Once the stuttering has started, other factors can cause more disfluencies. For a child who gets frustrated easily, they are more likely to tighten or tense their speech muscles when there is a disfluency.
The symptoms of developmental stuttering will first begin around the ages of 2½ and 4 years. Stuttering is more common among males than females. During the preschool ages, children will not become aware of their speech difficulty but beyond, however, most people who stutter will become increasingly aware of their speech difficulties and how others react to them when they stutter. The development of stuttering is varied across everyone. Some will have disfluencies for a week or two, and some will show a gradual increase within months or years.
It is important to know that about 75% of preschools who begin to stutter will eventually stop. Also, there are some people who have stuttered for years and then slowly begin to stop. There is no reason as to why some people simply recover from their stutter. It is impossible to say whether the stuttering symptoms for a child will or will not continue into their adult life. The question of recovery is still unclear. It may be that during following speech therapy, the children will recover. However, more research needs to be conducted as to how and why recovery takes place, with or without speech therapy se
