Unit 1 – Introduction to Fluency Disorders; Define fluency and stuttering

Stuttering

stammering = disorder of fluency (Stuttering is characterized by disfluencies of excessive frequency, excessive duration, or both)

Fluent speech/fluency

stutter free speech

Fluency is described as speech that is

Flowing, Effortless, Smooth, Rhythmic, Rapid, Continuous speech

Fluency is

the aspect of speech production that refers to the continuity, smoothness, rate and/or effort with which phonologic, lexical, morphologic, and/or syntactic language units are spoken

Dis-

stuttering speech regardless if apart of disorder

Dys-

stuttering speech apart of disorder

Continuity in Fluent Speech

Smooth and continuous production of intended (expected) words, without inappropriate pauses or other interruptions.

Continuity of Disfluent Speech in Fluency Disorder

Choppy flow of speech, marred by (1) inappropriate pauses (2) repetition of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases; (3) prolongations of sounds; and/or (4) moments of being unable to finish words that were started (blocks)

Effort in Fluent Speech

Ordinary, expected movements to produce speech that do not distract from the message.

Effort of Disfluent Speech in Fluency Disorder

Moments when exertion/struggle of speaking interrupts smooth speech flow/may distract from message

Rate in Fluent Speech

speaking speed accommodates listener comprehension, meets expectations, sounds natural

Rate of Disfluent Speech in Fluency Disorder

Speaking too fast, especially in bursts, (maybe more common in "cluttering" disorder than developmental stuttering), speaking too unnaturally slowly; maybe speaker's attempt to avoid stuttering.

Rhythm in Fluent Speech

Speaking with stress pattern; natural to language being. English, for example, is a stress-timed language so key words in a sentence get stress and others don't.

Rhythm of Disfluent Speech in Fluency Disorder

Speaking in a monotone so that each word has equal stress. This may be a way in which the speaker avoids stuttering, but it distracts from the speaker's message.

DYSFLUENCY definition in this class

Stuttering is characterized by disfluencies of excessive frequency, excessive duration, or both

Excessive Frequency

all forms of disfluencies that reach or exceed 5% of the words spoken or read; OR part-word repetitions, sound prolongations, and blocks/broken words that are 3%

Excessive Duration

Duration of disfluencies that typically reaches or exceeds 1 second

Stuttering is a complex or simple disorder

complex

Regarding the role of speech-based definitions, there seems to be relatively little disagreement that

the term stuttering refers to motor speech production domain and its disruption by speech disfluencies.

What components cannot be labeled as stuttering

Physical, physiological, cognitive, and emotion components if they did not accompany a speaker's disfluent speech, regardless of how frequent or intense