What is Stuttering?
Stuttering affects the flow of speech while a person is speaking. It is a disorder that starts during childhood and could continue throughout life. This disorder is shown in a person by disruptions while he is speaking and is also known as disfluency. Disfluency is present in most of the people and they produce it briefly from time to time. For example, some words may be repeated while speaking or others may be used with “um” or “uh”. In common terms, stuttering is also related to stammering.
Who Stutters:
It is estimated that around 3 million Americans stutter. It can affect individuals of all ages but it is mostly seen in children aged between 2 and 5. This is because, that is the age when they develop their language skills. An estimation shows that around 5% of the children stutter in some of the other point in their life. It is twice as more likely to be seen in boys than girls.
Symptoms of Stuttering:
There are many kinds of symptoms that varies from person to person:
- It is more severe when speaking before a group of people.
- It may be the same when talking on a call.
- Stuttering may be lesser while singing or speaking with a group (all at a time).
Types and Causes of Stuttering:
There are 2 main types of Stuttering:
- Developmental Stuttering: The common type of stuttering which is found in young children is called developmental stuttering. It usually occurs at the time when the children are still learning developmental skills. Researchers have to yet find out the specific genes involved in causing this.
- Neurogenic Stuttering:This type of stuttering might occur due to a stroke or a head injury. In this type of stuttering, the brain finds it difficult to co-ordinate with the components used in speaking. This is caused due to the signal problems between the nerves and brain.
