Stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency that interrupts the forward flow of speech. All individuals are disfluent at times, but what differentiates the person who stutters from someone with normal speech disfluencies is the kind and amount of the disfluencies.
Characteristics
• Repetition of sounds (e.g., b-b-b-ball), syllables (e.g., mo-mo-mommy), parts of words (e.g., basket-basket-basketball), whole words, and phrases
Prolongation, or stretching, of sounds or syllables (e.g., r-----abbit)
• Tense pauses, hesitations, and/or no sound between words
• Speech that occurs in spurts, as the client tries to initiate or maintain voice
• Related behaviors: reactions that accompany stuttering such as tense muscles in the lips, jaw, and/or neck; tremor of the lips, jaw, and/or tongue during attempts to speak; foot tapping. eye blinks, head turns, etc. [to try to escape from the stuttering]; etc. There are many related behaviors that can occur and vary from person to person
• Variability in stuttering behavior, depending on the speaking situation, the communication partner(s), and the speaking task. A person who stutters may experience more fluency in the speech-language pathologist' s office than in a classroom or workplace. There may be no difficulty making a special dinner request at home, but extreme difficulty ordering a meal in a restaurant.Conversation with a spouse may be easier, and more fluent, than that with a boss. A person may be completely fluent when singing, but experience significant stuttering when talking on the telephone.
• A feeling of loss of control . The person who stutters may experience sound and word fears, situational fears, anticipation of stuttering, embarrassment, and a sense of shame. Certain sounds or words may be avoided. One word may be substituted for another that is thought to be harder to say. Or, certain speaking situations may be avoided altogether. For example, a person who stutters may always wait for someone else to answer the phone. Or, he or she may walk around a store for an hour rather than ask sales staff where an item can be found. These reactions to stuttering occur in more advanced stages
Normal Disfluencies
Every one is disfluent at times and may sometimes have repetitions and prolongations. However, the disfluencies of people who do not stutter are not as frequent as those who do. The kind of disfluencies are also generally different. Normal disfluencies tend to be a repetition of whole words or the interjection of syllables like um and er. while stuttering tends to be repetition and prolongation of sounds and syllables.
Disfluencies in Children
Almost all children go through a stage of frequent disfluency in early speech development, usually between the ages of 2 and 5. Speech is produced easily in spite of the disfluencies. As children mature and sharpen their communication skills, these disfluencies typically disappear, but not always.
Stuttering usually starts during this same time period, but may occasionally appear for the first time in a school-age child and, more rarely, in an adult. As a parent, seek the advice of an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist if:
• you or your child are concerned about his or her speech • disfluencies begin to occur more often
• disfluencies begin to sound effortful or strained