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The Causes Of Stuttering

Speech disorders abound worldwide and yet one of the most common and least understood of those disorders, stuttering, remains largely a mystery today. In spite of the fact that stuttering can be traced back centuries, it’s root causes have been widely misunderstood and misdiagnosed and it’s cure remains elusive. Stuttering is a speech disorder whereby the pattern of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions, prolongations or even total stoppages of speech. It may also be accompanied by rapid eye blinks or other unusual facial or body movements.

The Stuttering Foundation of America has identified 4 causes of stuttering. There is a strong genetic link to stuttering, so a previous history of it may be in the family’s gene pool. Secondly, stuttering is a developmental speech disorder that begins in early childhood and generally goes away without treatment, but for approximately 1% of the population, stuttering continues into adulthood and may affect them their entire lives. Thirdly, another type of stuttering is Neurogenic stuttering where stuttering occurs when there are signal problems between the brain and the nerves or muscles. Lastly, family expectations can also be attributed to stuttering when too much emphasis is placed on a child’s academic achievements when they do not have the aptitude for it, and consequently the pressure can lead them to develop a stutter.

Older therories suggested psychogenic stuttering occurs when an individual has undergone an extreme emotional or physical trauma and was widely considered to be the cause of most stuttering until recently. It has now been shown that psychogenic stuttering is actually quite rare.

The most common form of all stuttering is developmental stuttering. An estimated 5% of children will go through a period of stuttering that will last anywhere from 6 weeks to a few years. Boys are twice as likely to suffer from it than girls but only 1% of adults will carry it with them throughout life.

For most people who stutter, the biggest obstacle that must be overcome is not that actual disorder itself but the anxiety and fear that accompanies it. Stuttering can have a severe impact on a person’s emotional well-being and their ability to function in everyday life. There may be extreme anxiety surrounding certain situations, fear of stuttering in social conversations, self-imposed isolation, shame or a feeling of a “lack of control” when speaking.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Stuttering doesn’t have to be a lifelong stressful condition as there are appropriate treatments and therapies, to deal with this disorder. So whatever method is used it is important that the sufferer knows that help is at hand. The condition does not have to overtake their lives.

If you have a need to stop stuttering you can have a look at the techniques listed on my website. There are many stuttering treatments that you can take to help you deal with the situation.

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Tags: communication problems, Education, phonetics, psychogenic, speaking, speech development, speech disorder, speech impediment, speech problems, stammer, stammering, stutter, stuttering, talking