Is Speech Stammering affecting your confidence levels?

SPEECH STAMMERING:

A Disorder where a person repeats or prolongs words, syllables, or phrases is referred as speech stammering or stuttering. Stammering is more prone to boys than girls. In the case of adults, 1% is affected.

There is no definitive cause for stuttering and people are affected by stammering when a close relative is affected. There may be other causes for stuttering such as

Developmental stuttering- Early stages of speech development when speech proficiency is undeveloped. Symptom gets fewer as the child grows.

Neurogenic stuttering- occurs when there is improper working of speech nerves. This affects both children and adults and caused by

·         Stroke

·         Head trauma

·         Ischemic attacks – Blood flow to brain gets temporarily congested

·         Tumours

·         Degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's

·         Meningitis

Psychological factors like stress, anxiety, depression tend to increase stammering and its symptoms.

Stammering can be identified by certain symptoms such as

·         Word repetitions

·         Tension while speaking

·         Rapid Blinking of eyes

·         Trembling of lips and Jaws

·         Speech Spurts

·         Substitution of words

·         Foot tapping

·         Body tightens

Stammering is not a fatal disorder and can be cured by proper practicing and by treatment from professionals in the field of speech therapy.

Speech-Language Pathologists:

Speech language pathology is an allied health profession like audiology, Occupational therapy, optometry, physical therapy, etc…,. SLPs are specialized in the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of communication based disorders, voice disorders and swallowing problems. They can provide treatment on an individual basis or for whole families and groups. The treatment starts with an initial testing followed by diagnosis, consultation and counselling.

Speech Stammering vs. Speech Language Pathology:

Speech stammering can be cured with the help of a speech language pathologist. They will team up with an educational staff to devise the proper treatment plan for the patient. The major techniques followed are

Indirect therapy- In this treatment, the parents changes their environment and speaking conditions to help treat their child to develop proper speaking skills. This is followed to reduce the pressure from the child. This involves slow speaking, turn- taking encouragement; avoid interrupting, etc…,

Direct therapy- this is followed for both young children and older ones. For young children, Lidcombe program is used where the parents provide consistent feedback based on advice from SLPs. For older child, direct therapy is useful for improving fluency, experience sharing, working on stammer associated feelings, improving communication, and self-confidence developing procedures.

Other treatment programs include Psychological therapies, Feedback devices, and other procedures.