Stuttering
General characteristics of the disease
Stuttering is a speech disorder, which is characterized by frequent repetitions or prolongation of words, syllables or sounds, as well as signs of the disease are frequent stops or indecision in speech, leading to a break in its rhythmic flow.
To put it simply, stuttering is a violation of the fluency and rhythm of speech, which causes difficulties in oral communication.
Symptoms must be significant to be diagnosed with stuttering. Hitching and disruptions in the rhythm of speech of normally speaking people differ from this disorder by the sensation of stuttering muscle tension, loss of control over the speech organs, the emergence of a sense of shame and fear.
Stuttering usually starts between the ages of 2 and 5 and can last for months or years. Boys are more susceptible to this speech disorder than girls; cases of this disease have been recorded in several family members at once. Stuttering in children, unlike in adults, can go away spontaneously.
Almost all stutters are characterized by the ability to speak fluently, when they are emotionally carried away, read with someone in one voice, sing, are alone, or when they change their manner of speaking, breathing, their voice.
Stuttering begins to manifest itself when communicating in difficult situations, when, for example, you have to perform in front of an audience, in a hurry, in an effort to gain approval, or when you focus on yourself and your speech disorder.
Most stuttering stutters are characterized by prolongation or repetitions of the initial syllables or sounds, and a complete stop at the beginning of a syllable or word is also possible. In addition, in parallel with stuttering, there may be such "secondary" symptoms as involuntary movements of the muscles of the limbs, neck, face, or the insertion of extraneous sounds or words. The first signs of stuttering in children are manifested in the form of non-smooth and uncertain speech, frequent repetitions of words, visible tension of the child, sometimes there are cases of silence and complete refusal of oral communication.
Causes of stuttering
Stuttering in children can be triggered by defects in the nervous system or be the result of neuroses.
In the first case, the cause of speech impairment may be a hereditary predisposition, a difficult pregnancy, trauma during childbirth, or frequent illnesses in infancy. Despite the fact that outwardly such children look quite healthy, neurological examination can reveal they have increased convulsive readiness, changes in reflexes, and increased intracranial pressure.
In the second case, stuttering in children causes neuroses caused by stress, severe fatigue, and fear. Nervous and impressionable children are most susceptible to speech disorders of this type, while the signs of the disease can increase with neuropsychic stress or emotional arousal.
In rare cases, the cause of stuttering in children can be the child's desire to imitate a stuttering relative, forced retraining from left-hander to right-hander, or the transfer of an infectious disease.
Stuttering in adults occurs quite rarely, as a rule, this is preceded by severe mental trauma. In some cases, the cause of stuttering in adults is the fear of speaking (logoophobia), which first manifests itself directly during verbal communication, and then transforms into fear that accompanies even thoughts about the upcoming conversation.
Stuttering mechanism
Effective correction of stuttering and its treatment requires an understanding of what constitutes a given disorder in physiological terms. Stuttering in adults, as well as in children, is muscle cramps of the speech apparatus (lower jaw, soft palate, lips, tongue) that occur periodically.
Thus, clonic stuttering, which is an involuntary repetition of individual syllables and sounds, is caused by several short-term muscle contractions. At the same time, tonic stuttering (speech delay) causes prolonged strong muscle contraction. Sometimes cramps in the muscles of the speech apparatus are accompanied by cramps in the muscles of the limbs and face.
The brain contains the vocal, auditory and associative centers, the coordinated work of which forms the speech circle. Stuttering is based on breaks in the speech circle, which occur periodically as a result of different speeds of speech centers. It is for this reason that stuttering most often occurs in children aged 2-5 years, when a synchronous connection between the centers is just being formed.
Modern medicine explains the mechanism of stuttering as follows. Changes in the nervous system lead to overexcitation of the vocal center (Broca's center), the speed of which increases, which provokes a temporary opening of the speech circle. Overexcitation is transferred to areas of the cerebral cortex responsible for motor activity, resulting in muscle cramps. After the very fact of stuttering, the vocal center relaxes to normal, and the speech circle closes again. Stuttering occurs most often on consonant sounds, since nerve impulses when overexcited in frequency response are close to these sounds, especially deaf ones.
Stuttering treatment
The question of how to get rid of stuttering is almost always raised when a family member is faced with this speech disorder.
Treatment of stuttering today cannot be called unambiguous, since experts disagree on the methods of therapy. In order for stuttering correction to be productive, an integrated approach is usually used that combines several techniques, among which are:
- psychological;
- psychotherapeutic;
- speech therapy;
- logopsychotherapeutic;
- socio-rehabilitation;
- physiotherapy;
- medication;
- unconventional.
Stuttering correction techniques were developed by the authors based on their understanding of the causes of this disease. Some interpret stuttering as a complex neurotic disorder, which is caused by malfunctions of nervous processes in the brain. Others see the cause of this complex neurotic disorder in the fixed reflex of incorrect speech, which arose as a result of speech difficulties of various origins. For others, stuttering treatment is the elimination of disharmonious personality development, as well as speech and general dysontogenesis. Others see the cause of stuttering only in organic lesions of the central nervous system.
Today, there are many methods for treating stuttering, but none of them gives one hundred percent guarantee. In some cases, the question of how to get rid of stuttering may not arise if the illness is prevented in time by creating the most calm and gentle living conditions for the child.
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The information is generalized and provided for informational purposes only. At the first sign of illness, see your doctor. Self-medication is hazardous to health!
