Here are things you need to know about stuttering.
So then what is stuttering?.....
Stuttering is a disorder characterized by disruptions in the production of speech sounds, also called disfluencies. It affect the fluency of speech and it begins during childhood and in some cases it lasts throughout the lifetime of an individual. Disfluencies are not necessarily a problem; most people produce brief disfluencies from time to time, however when it is produced in excess it can impede communication of an individual.
In most cases, stuttering has an impact on at least some daily activities, the specific activities a person finds challenging to perform, of which communication difficulties only happen during specific activities, e.g. talking on the telephone or talking before large groups. some people may therefore limit their participation in certain activities. Such participation restriction often occur because the person is concerned about how others might react to the disfluent speech. Some people may find that they are excluded from participating in certain activities because of stuttering. Clearly, the impact of stuttering on daily life can be affected by how the person and other react to the disorder.
What are the signs and symptoms of stuttering?....
Actually, stuttered speech often includes repetitions of words or parts of words as well as prolongations and difficulty of speech sounds. These disfluencies occur more often in persons who stutter than they doing the general population. some people who stutter appear very tense or "out of breath" when talking. Speech may become completely stopped or blocked. Blocked is when mouth is positioned to say a sound, sometimes for several seconds, with little or no sounds forthcoming. After some effort, the person may complete the word.
Examples of stuttering include:
* "W-W-W-where are you going?"(PART WORD REPETITION)....... this person is having difficulty moving from the "w" in where to the remaining sounds in 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.
* I'll meet you 'un' 'un' you like around six o'clock." (A SERIES OF INTERJECTIONS), the person expects to have difficulty smoothly joining the word "you" with word "around". In respond to the anticipated difficulty,he produces several interjections until he produces several interjections until he is able to say the word "around" smoothly.
What causes stuttering?.....
The exact cause of stuttering is unknown. Recent studies suggest that genetics plays a role in the disorder. (ASHA) It is thought that many, if not most individuals who stutter inherit traits that put them at risk to develop stuttering, the exact nature of these traits is presently unclear. Whatever the traits are, they obviously impair the individual's ability to string together the various muscle movements that are necessary to produce sentences fluently. Not everyone who is predisposed to stutter will develop the disorder.
For many, certain life events are thought to trigger fluency difficulty. One of the triggers for developmental stuttering may be the development of grammar skills. Between the ages of 2 and 5 years, children learn many of the grammatical rules of language. These rules allows children to change immature messages into longer sentences that require coordination to produce fluently. A child who is predisposed to stutter may have no difficulty speaking fluently when sentences are only one or two words long. However, when the child starts trying to produce longer or more complex sentences, he or she may find himself or herself not quite up to the challenge-and disfluent speech results.
After stuttering has started, other factors may cause more disfluencies. For example, a child who is easily frustrated may be more likely to tighten or tense speech muscles when disfluencies occur. Such tension may increase how long a disfluencies lasts. Also, listeners' responses to stuttering (e.g., teasing) can aggravate fluency difficulties as well. People who stutters vary widely in how they react to the dysfluencies in their speech. Some appear to be minimally concerned. Others-especially those who have encountered unfavourable reactions from listeners may develop emotional responses to stuttering that hinder speech production further. And examples of these emotions include shame, embarrasment and anxiety.......
how common is stuttering?,
could it manifest as a form of habit?,
is it stuttering curable?........
part 2 to come out shortly
(AMERICAN SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING ASSOCIATION)
