A speech therapy cannot be complete until and unless a person is bestowed by fluency through it. Fluency can be one of the major aspects in determining the quality of the speech. All the factors such as stress, pronunciation and the language can be combined in developing the fluency of a person.
The breaks which occur in the fluency of a person can be caused due to various factors such as the improper development of muscles in the regions of the mouth and the tongue or even factors such as low self esteem and confidence.
Technically, the various types of fluency disorders can be categorised in the following ways:
- Fluency disorder caused due to stuttering.
- Fluency disorder caused due to neurogenic disfluency.
- Mixed fluency failures.
- Psychogenic disfluency.
Stuttering is the most common of the fluency disorders in speech therapy. It is caused due to the prolonged pauses or stoppages caused during the speech of a person. The process of stuttering may also cause some physical abnormalities in expressions such as blinking the eyes hard when a person is out of words or gyrations in the body while speaking.
In neurogenic disfluency the hindrance in the fluency of speech is caused due to the nerve and neurology related issues. This mostly occurs in people who have undergone an extreme trauma or shock in their life. This causes an insufficient supply of blood flow to the area of brain that controls the speech.
This disfluency of speech is caused due to the inability of a person in controlling or coordinating the muscles required in speaking fluently. Psychogenic disfluency is caused due to indefinite emotional crisis.
Psychogenic disfluency can be categorised into three forms such as:
- Emotionally based disfluencies.
- Manipulative disfluencies.
- Malingering disfluencies.
An example of a psychogenic disorder can be formed when a person starts to stutter when there is a case of emergency or a frightful situation. Persons suffering from the psychogenic disorder have to be given therapy sessions which are psychological in nature. It is mainly used in overcoming the fears and emotions that are troubling the person in speaking fluently.
