Stuttering

This page is about speech problems, the album can be found at Hands All Over

Five to six percent of children have a stammer while one percent of adults have a stammer. Men are four times more likely to have a stammer than women. Stammers normally start at 2-6 years and run in families.

The person knows what they want to say but the flow of their speech may have some of the following features:

• Repetitions (of sounds, parts of words or phrases)
• Blocks (stops before words)
• Prolongations (making a sound longer, e.g. 'hhhhhhham' instead of 'ham')

Stammering can be very upsetting. Joseph Sheehan compared stuttering to an iceberg, with the visible parts you can hear (overt parts) of stuttering above the waterline, and the larger block of how the person feels (covert parts) invisible below the surface. This may include embarrassment, shame, frustration, fear, anger, and guilt. These feelings may increase stress and effort making the person stammer more. Such negative feelings may be an important part of a treatment program.

Others have reclaimed the negative emotions and experience pride. See: https://www.duhoctrungquoc.vn/wiki/en/Stuttering_pride

Fluency shaping therapy

Stutterers are trained to slow down their speaking rate by stretching vowels and consonants. Other methods include soft speech contacts. Many people find their speech does not sound natural at the end of therapy.

Stuttering modification therapy

The goal of stuttering modification therapy is not to get rid of stuttering but to change it so that stuttering is easier and less stressful. The most widely known approach was made by Charles Van Riper in 1973 and is also known as block modification therapy. Stuttering modification therapy has four stages:

• In the first stage, called identification, the stutterer and speech and language therapist work out the core behaviours, secondary behaviors, and feelings that make the stuttering.
• In the second stage, called desensitization, the stutterer works to reduce fear and anxiety. This is done by freezing stuttering behaviors, confronting difficult sounds, words and situations, and stuttering on purpose ("voluntary stuttering").
• In the third stage, called modification, the stutterer learns "easy stuttering." This is done by "cancellations" (stopping in a stammer, waiting a few moments, and saying the word again); "pull-outs," or pulling out of a stammer into ‘normal’ speech; and "preparatory sets," or looking ahead for words they may stutter on, and using "easy stuttering" on those words.
• In the fourth stage, called stabilization, the stutterer prepares practice assignments, makes preparatory sets and pull-outs automatic, and changes how they feel about themselves.

• Guitar, Barry (2005). Stuttering: An Integrated Approach to Its Nature and Treatment. San Diego: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-0-7817-3920-7.
• Ward, David (2006). Stuttering and Cluttering: Frameworks for understanding treatment. Hove and New York City: Psychology Press. ISBN 978-1-84169-334-7.
• Fraser, Jane (2005). If Your Child Stutters: A Guide for Parents. Stuttering Foundation of America. ISBN 978-0-933388-44-4.