Stuttering is a speech disorder in which sounds or syllables are repeated again and again. Hence, it disrupts the normal flow of speech. It is generally accompanied with other symptoms like frequent blinking and tremors of the lips.
It affects people of all ages.It occurs most often in children between the age 2 and 5.About 1% or less of adults suffer from this dysfunction. Now, what exactly causes this disorder? There are two types of stuttering:
- Developmental stuttering : Occurs in young children when they are still learning speech and language skills. It is the most common form.
- Neurogenic stuttering: It occurs after a stroke, head trauma or other type of brain injury. It finally results in difficulty in coordinating the different components of the brain involved in speech.
For people who stutter, it is more than just a physical speech block. It is a block in their potential, choices, decisions, personality, in what they can achieve and who they can become in life! Hence, finding a solution to to eliminate stuttering becomes one of the desired goals in a stutterer’s life. Speech therapy plays an important role in rectifying this problem.
There are few mistakes enlisted which you should avoid while you are undergoing speech therapy;
- Expecting to learn a physical technique for curing stuttering
- Choosing a speech therapy program which solely focuses on physical speech mechanisms
- Desiring complete fluency
- Thinking of stuttering as a problem which can be “fixed”
- Undergo a speech therapy program because your loved ones expect that from you
- Unable to distinguish between a therapy room and a real life situations
- Excluding yourself from a support group post-therapy
Sometimes people who stammer need to go through several cycles of stuttering therapy before lasting changes are begin to be made. But one should not give up hope on conquering his/her fears of stammering!
