Stuttering Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention

Stuttering Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention

Understanding

Stuttering is an abnormal way of speaking. A person who stutters is characterized by frequent pauses in speech between syllables, there are delays and repetitions of sounds, and substitution of words to avoid words that cause problems.

People with stuttering disorders will have difficulty speaking accompanied by physical movements such as difficulty breathing, eye blinking, mouth shaking and facial expressions that struggle to speak.

Symptom

A person with a stuttering disorder will speak haltingly and often stop or repeat syllables. People with stuttering disorders also often make various physical movements that indicate their attempts to speak.

Anxiety is a psychological condition that is quite common in people with stuttering disorders. In addition, because they have speech impediments, people with stuttering disorders will exhibit the behavior of stopping or holding back speech to avoid negative situations or evaluations from others.

Diagnosis

Stuttering disease is classified under communication disorders. These include speech timing patterns that are inappropriate for the patient’s age and that consist of one or more of the following: sound repetition, prolongation, insertion, pauses in words, visible word substitution to avoid inhibition, and audible inhibition.

In some stuttering disorders, a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) is required to diagnose stuttering disorders.

Diagnostic criteria for people with stuttering:

1. Disturbance in fluency and speech timing patterns (inappropriate for the individual’s age), characterized by the frequent occurrence of one or more of the following:
   • Repetition of sounds or syllables
   • sound extension
   • Interjection
   • Word breaks (for example, pauses within words)
   • Audible or quiet inhibition (filled or unfilled pauses in speech)
   • Circumlocutions (word substitution to avoid difficult words)
   • Words are produced with excessive physical tension
   • Repetition of whole one-syllable words
2. Impaired fluency in speech that interferes with academic or work achievement, or social communication.
3. There is a decrease in motor or sensory nerve function in speech.