Funny Clip- Art Associated With Stuttering

When to Seek Help for

If your child is 5 years old and still stuttering, talk to your doctor and, possibly, a speech-language therapist. You also may want to consult a speech therapist if:

• repetitions of whole words and phrases become excessive
• sound and syllable repetitions start happening more often
• there is an increase in the prolongations of words
• speech starts to be especially difficult or strained
• you notice increased facial tension or tightness in the speech muscles
• you notice vocal tension resulting in rising pitch or loudness
• your child tries to avoid situations that require talking
• your child changes a word for fear of stuttering
• your child has facial or body movements along with the stuttering
• you have other concerns about your child's speech

Most schools will offer testing and appropriate therapy if you have been concerned about the stuttering for 6 months or more

Myths About Stuttering

Myth: People who stutter are not smart.Reality: There is no link whatsoever between stuttering and intelligence.

Myth: Nervousness causes stuttering.Reality: Nervousness does not cause stuttering. Nor should we assume that people who stutter are prone to be nervous, fearful, anxious, or shy.

Myth: Stuttering can be “caught” through imitation or by hearing another person stutter.Reality: You can’t “catch” stuttering. No one knows the exact causes of stuttering, but recent research indicates that family history (genetics), neuromuscular development, and the child’s environment, including family dynamics, all play a role in the onset of stuttering.

Myth: It helps to tell a person to “take a deep breath before talking,” or “think about what you want to say first.”Reality: This advice only makes a person more self-conscious, making the stuttering worse. More helpful responses include listening patiently and modeling slow and clear
speech yourself.

www.stutteringhelp.org

Websites Relating to Stuttering

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/stutter.asp

NIDCD stands for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.This is an informative website that discusses research and findings on stuttering as well as causes, treatments and ways to diagnose stuttering. I really like how the website has a section for stuttering and a section for hearing. Ex: When viewing the website, I researched stuttering and then went to the "Hearing" section to see if there was correlation between stuttering and hearing.

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/stuttering.htm
http://www.stutteringhelp.org/

This is an insightful website to view. In particular, there is a section for SLPs that highlights upcoming and intersting workshops, continuing education and ways of counseling parents, patients etc. This website also displays "Did you know stuttering facts" that are mindblowing. In particular, I enjoyed looking at the advice for teachers who have stuttering students. My favorite advice/comment was "Don't complete words for the child or talk for him/her." Overall I think this a helpful website for individuals who come into contact with stutters.

STUTTTTTERING FACTS

*Over 3 million Americans stutter

*Stuttering occurs mostly in young children around age 2-6, when they are developing their language

*Boys are three times more likely to stutter than girls

*Most children outgrow their stuttering by the age of 16

Stuttering:an overview

Prasse, J.E., & Kinano, G.E., (2008). Stuttering: an overview. American Family Physican, 77 (9), 1271-1276. Retrieved September 28, 2008 from http://libproxy.uncg.edu:2079/pubmed

Stuttering is also known as speech dysfluency. Stuttering is categorized as repetition of sounds/words, prolongation or extreme long sounds in words. Stuttering is also categorized into secondary behaviors (eye blinking, jaw jerking, involuntary head or other movements) that accompany stuttering. Stuttering has been contributed to developmental problems, heredity and gender. Treatment is highly recommended for stutters. Controlled fluency or stuttering modification therapy is recommended for patients with persistent stuttering. For stutters who want to minimize or eliminate stuttering, it is recommended to encourage the patient(s) to talk slowly and to monitor the use of their fluency-(shape mechanisms such as delayed auditory feedback devices to slow the speech rate).

What Do People Who Stutter Want

Venkatagiri, H.S. (2008). What Do People Who Stutter Want. The Speech Language Res., 10, 1044-1092. Retrieved on September 28, 2008 from http://libproxy.uncg.edu:2079/pubmed/18695024?

The purpose of this study was to survey what adult stutters preferred: fluency or freedom. Freedom was defined as fluent speech, an attitudinal change and freedom to speak without stuttering and a behavior change. Fluent was described as speaking without significant amount of stuttering and maladaptive behaviors. The methods of this research consisted of presenting a survey on the web through April – June, 2006 at http://www.surveymonkey.com/). The participants for this survey were recruited by placing an announcement on the web site of the National Stuttering Association and spreading the word through the directors of ASHA, accredited graduate programs in Communication Disorders and coordinators of support groups listed on the National Stuttering Association’s web page. After the test were administered, data collection from the Survey-Monkey website was calculated into an excel worksheet. Of the 216 individuals, majority choose fluency.

Origins of the Stuttering Stereotype

Hall.S., Macintyre., & P.D.MacKinnon, S.P. (2007). Origins of the stuttering stereotype: stereotype formation through anchoring-adjustment. 32 (4), 297-309. Retrieved on September 28, 2008 from http://libproxy.uncg.edu:2079/sites/entrez



Imagine being stereo-typed as in competent, insecure or shy individual because your flow of speech is constantly broken by repetitions, prolongations or abnormal stoppages. Stuttering is one of many communication disorders, that is stereotyped negatively amongst people. These negative stereo-types drastically impact the stutters social, mental and educational and occupational experience. In regards to employment, scientific studies have shown that 85% of employers agreed that stuttering decreases a person’s employability and opportunities for promotion. So why these stereotypes exist was examined in the research study. It was proposed that two participants (a male suffering from normal speech fluency and a typical male with fluent speech) be rated on a 25-item semantic differential scale. The results suggested that ratings of a stutterer showed a small but statistically significant adjustment on several traits that makes the stereotype of stutterers less negative and less emotionally than the fluent male.

So I Stutter