How to Stop Stammering

Stammering or stuttering is a speech disorder and is most common during childhood. However, the disorder can extend up to adulthood. Stammering has a far-reaching social and emotional impact on an individual's confidence and communication in several formats. It becomes important to recognize that stammering is just one aspect of the person's identity, and by active support and understanding, the individual can navigate the challenge and thrive in personal and professional life.

What is Stammering?

Stammering is a condition characterized by:

• Repetition of syllables or sounds, such as saying "mu-mu-mu-mummy."
• Prolonging the sound- for example "dddddddddddddddaaddddddy"
• Uneven flow or stuck between when while completing a sentence

Stammering differs in terms of severity from individual to individual and also depends upon the situation.

Types of Stammering

Stammering is mainly of two types:

• Developmental Stammering: It is one of the most general types of stammering that occurs in early childhood when speech and language skills are developing rapidly.
• Acquired or Late-Onset Stammering: This type of stammering is very uncommon among the individual and often seen rarely. It occurs in older children and adults due to head injury, stroke, or progressive neurological situation. It can also be triggered due to psychological or emotional trauma, drugs, or medicines.

Causes of Stammering

It is very difficult to locate an exact cause for stammering. However, inherited and developmental factors have some role in part, along with minute differences in how effectively the speech areas present in the brain are functioning.

Speech Development

It is a highly complex concept and involves multiple coordination for effective communication between the different locations of the brain and has to coordinate with muscles that are responsible for speaking and breathing.

When every part that is involved in speaking works in tandem with each other, then the correct word is pronounced with correct emphasis, pauses, and rhythm.

A child who is learning to form easy sentences requires time to practice and development of different speech areas of the brain and construct wiring required for all the parts of the body to work in tandem.

Stammering can occur when one or some parts are not functioning properly. Therefore, it can trigger repetitions and stoppages at the time when a child wants something to say while he is excited or under pressure.

As the brain continues to develop over time, the stammering also gets eliminated, or the brain may compensate. Due to this evolution, people stop stammering when they get older.

Sex and Genes Factor

It has often been noticed that stammering is more commonly present among the boys than the girls. However, the reason is unknown.

Genes are also believed to be crucial factors that play in the stammering. It has been observed that 2-3 people who stammer do have a family past of stammering, which gives an idea that a gene inherited from their parents might have been instrumental in the development of stammering.

General Features of Stammering

Stammering can have:

• Repetitive words, syllables, or sounds while speaking, such as speaking "maaaangooooo" instead of mango.
• Stretching particular sounds or not being able not shift next sounds, for example, "cuuuuuuuurrrrrrd".
• The long pause between particular sounds and words suggests that a child is making an effort to say the correct word, phrase, or sentence.
• Employing a lot of "filter" words during the speech, such as "um" and "ah."
• Ignoring making eye contact with the other person while struggling with words or sounds

Stammering occurs when the young child has a lot to share, is excited, wants to share something valuable with them, or wants to ask questions.

Stammering becomes awful in conditions where the child feels self-conscious about his speech, so they make an effort not to stammer.

Some of the conditions include:

• Reading loudly
• Talking on the telephone
• Speaking to the person of authority, for example, the principal
• Speaking in front of the class

Behavioural Issue Linked with Stammering

A child who stammers while speaking develops some involuntary movements like stamping their feet, eye blinking, tapping their fingers, quivering lips, and grimacing.

It can also include:

• Ignoring particular sounds or words where they usually stammer
• Use plans or strategies to hide their stammering by saying that they have forgotten what they wanted to say when they feel unease while pronouncing the words comfortably.
• Abstain from a social situation due to fear of stammering, for example, not inquiring in shops or not attending birthday parties or other functions.
• Change the way of speech to stop, such as speaking or talking very softly or slowly or talking with an accent.
• Experience shame, embarrassment,frustration, or fear due to their stammering

Affected People

Several studies reveal that around 1 in 12 young children has gone through the cycle of stammering. Studies also indicate that 2 in 3 children who had stammered will speak fluently in the later stage and it is not easy to tell when this will occur in a certain child.

Data suggests that 1 in 50 adults are affected by stammering, male has a probability of getting affected by stammering 3 to 4 times more than females.

When to Ask for Aid

Advice should be obtained from the expert if the parents have concerns about their child's speech or language development. Cure for stammering has proven to be successful in preschool-age children, so it's crucial to obtain advice swiftly. Speak to a GP (General Practitioner) or Health visitor about your issue. If the situation necessitates, they might recommend your child to a speech and language therapist for an examination.

Treatment for Stopping Stammering

Different treatments are present in medical science for stammering, and it largely depends upon the age profile of the individual and its circumstances.

Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) will aid you, your child, and the educational faculty in devising a suitable treatment plan for your ward. A SLT can associate with adults who stammer to find suitable ways to improve the fluency of their speech and reduce the impact stammering has on their lives.

The individual can also access psychological therapy to aid with any emotional problems associated with speech difficulties.

Indirect Therapy

Indirect therapy refers to in which parents alter the way they communicate and the home environment rather than concentrating on the child's talking pattern.

If the child is under 5, it would be an approach that the therapist would suggest. If the child is young and his stammering persists for a few months and gets severe, it would be appropriate to begin with direct therapy.

Indirect approaches have been built on the concept that children start to stammer when they cannot match the demands made on their language skills. These demands may emanate from people surrounding them or the child's determination and enthusiasm to share. The central objective of indirect therapy is to construct an atmosphere where the child experiences minimum pressure when speaking:

It may include:

• Speaking calmly and slowly to the child
• Appreciating taking turns and listening within the family
• No criticism or interruption
• Turning the family environment relax and calm to an extend
• Undertaking those things that may help your child to improve your child's influence, such as chatting about things that you and your child perform together, such as cooking, playing, and leaving to the preschool and turning at favourite books

Direct Therapy

Younger Children

Behavioural therapy is used in the treatment of stammering of young children, such as The Lidcombe Program.It has been framed such that it has to be executed by the child's parents under the monitoring of the Speech and Language therapist (SLT).

This program is built upon the principle of offering consistent feedback to your ward about their speech in a supportive, friendly, and non-judgemental way.

Older Children

It is very challenging to treat older where stammering has persisted from a child who has become eligible to go to school. As time goes on, the effects of stammering can trigger problems. The problem could be feelings of embarrassment, nervousness, anxiety about speaking, and fear of stammering.

Therapy conducted on older children and adults will take note of both the speaking behaviours and aspects related to stammering, like psychological, social, and emotional. Direct therapy is often employed for:

• Aid to improve fluency
• Enhancing communication skills
• Developing positive attitudes and self-confidence
• Working on feelings related to stammering, like anxiety and fear

Alternate Treatment Options

Apart from direct and indirect therapy, other medical treatment methods can aid an individual who stammers, especially adults or older children with persistent stammering and those who develop stammering later period.

Psychological Therapies

Psychological therapies include solution-focused brief therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, personal construct therapy, and neurolinguistic programming. These therapies do not have a direct impact on stammering but aid in avoiding it if the individual starts to feel negative due to stammering.

Feedback Devices

These devices modify the way you hear your voice. These include:

• Delayed auditory feedback (DAF): This device instantly echoes your voice back to you just a fraction of a second after you speak.
• Frequency-shifted auditory feedback (FSAF): These devices instantly echo your voice back to you at a low or higher frequency.
• Combined DAF/FSAF: It employs a combination of both the techniques mentioned above.

These devices are installed inside or around the ear, like a hearing aid, and are useful in improving the fluency of people's speech. Several apps have been developed for smartphones and computers that work similarly.

However, these methods are not suited for everyone, and they can be uncomfortable to use in some speaking scenarios.

Talking to Someone Who Stammers

When you speak to individual stammer, keep this in mind:

• Do not try to finish their sentences if they are finding it hard to get their words out
• Please provide them with sufficient time to complete what they are saying without interruption
• Please do not ask them to speak faster or more slowly
• Show signs of enthusiasm for what they are speaking, not how they are speaking it, and keep eye contact

Speak gently, slowly, and calmly while chatting with a young child who generally stammers. Try to speak in short sentences and use lucid language to lower the communication demand on the child. Ensure not to bombard your child with information by speaking too rapidly. Allow them sufficient time to comprehend and process what you've communicated, enabling them to formulate a response.

Conclusion

Prolonged stammering in an individual is not a good sign and is not treated fairly in society. They are often subjected to stigma and harassment, which has a huge impact on individual confidence and morale. The causes for the stammering vary, and there is no one permanent fix treatment. However, it is important to recognize and adapt to the reality that stammering is a special identity to someone and society should avoid stigmatizing it as it has negative consequences on the minds of the people.

With the help of awareness, active support, and appropriate medical intervention like speech therapy, an individual can make an effort to learn strategies to handle their speech difficulties and have a satisfying life.

It is also important to develop an environment of inclusiveness and compassion where the people are accepted and should be stressed on removing social barriers associated with stammering. In the end, embracing diversity in communication style and having empathy can go a long way in establishing a more inclusive society where everyone's voice is matters, valued and heard.