October 21st, 2005
Genre 5
Does Your Child S-S-S-S-Stutter?
What is stuttering?
Stuttering in an interruption in the natural flow of speech characterized by involuntary repetitions, prolongations, hesitations, blocks, and/or secondary behaviors, which cause an inferference with the speaker and listener's ability to communicate. Repetitions are when the child says something more than once. There are phrase repetitions (example: I want, I want, I want to go to the store.), whole word repetitions (example: She, she, she, got it.), part-word repetitons ( example: Ma, Ma, Ma, Martha went home.), and sound repetitions (example: K-k-k-kitty cat.). Prolongations involve the involuntary holding-out of a sound (example: I mmmmmmmight go home.). Blocks are when the child's articulators stay in a certain position for a period of time resulting in a period of silence. Secondary behaviors are visable behaviors, both facial and body movenments, that occur at the moment of stuttering. The child uses these behaviors in an attempt to avoid or escape the problem. Some examples of secondary behaviors are eye blinking and/or foot tapping. All of these characteristics of stuttering affect the stutter when trying to communicate.
What causes Stuttering?
The cause of stuttering is unknown. Many believe that stuttering results from a combination of genetic, neurological, environmental, and/or developmental issues. It is important to know how long the child has been stuttering. The earlier it starts the better the outcome because of the more likelihood of it being a language problem.
Characteristic:
The following Chart might help you determine if your child is a stutterer or producing normal dysfluencies:
Stutterer's vs Normal Dysfluencies
| Stuttering | Normal Dysfluencies |
# of repetitions
| 3 + | 1-2 |
Secondary Behaviors
| Yes | No |
Duration of stuttering
| 12+ months | less than 12 months |
Awareness
| Aware | Not aware |
Family History
| May be present | No history |
Frequency of occurance
| consistent | Sporadic |
Age of onset
| Older age | Younger age |
Language
| Developmental delay language problems | Better language skills |
Gender
| Males more likely | Males and Females even distribution |
Tips for Parents:
1. Be a listener- Don't criticize or correct
2. Talk more slowly
3. Use shorter, simpler sentences
4. Talk about what your child is talking about
5. Don't tell your child to slow down
6. Don't put child in an embarrassing situation
How many people are affected by stuttering?:
There are over 3 million American's that stutter this is about 1% of the total population in the US.
Where can you find more information on stuttering?:
Go to the National Stuttering Association at http://www.nsastutter.org/
Go to the Stuttering Foundation at http://www.stutteringhelp.org
References:
Blocks, S., Dacakis, G., Gray, B., & Packman, A. (2005). Treatment of chronic stuttering: outcomes from a standard training clinic. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 40, 455-466. Retrieved October 5, 2005, from the MEDLINE database.
KimLucas
2. Audience: General Public
3. Say Back: The pamplet is providing some basics about stuttering. It describes the different types of stutters, the cause, the characteristics, the prevalence, and some tips for parents
4. Bless: The pamphlet was very informative. You did a good job at providing a lot of information in a simple precise way.
5. Address: Under the characteristics I think it would be helpful to put the age range when dysfluencies are normal instead of just saying "younger age."
sirk4
Audience: General audience
Say Back: This is a pamphlet that is giving a general overview of stuttering. The pamphlet describes what is stuttering, what causes stuttering, the characteristics of a stutterer, and tips for parents.
Bless: I really liked your examples of the different types of dysfluencies. You did a really good job describing them to someone who wouldn't know what those words meant.
Address: You misspelled likelihood under the causes of stuttering. Also, the characteristics would be easier to understand if they were in a chart (which you probably did, but it just didn't show up on Tabulas).