Objective Question 1

Flashcards on stuttering, covering definitions, causes, and related factors.

What are the three categories of factors influencing stuttering?

Factors that may predispose a child to stutter, precipitate stuttering, and perpetuate stuttering.

Explain some relationships between stuttering and language, and suggest what they mean about the nature of the disorder

Adults stutter more frequently on consonant sounds in word initial position, sounds in contextual speech, nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, longer words, words at the beginning of sentences stress syllables

Stuttering and preschoolers occurs most frequently on pronouns, junctions, repetitions of parts of words and single syllable. Words sentence, initial position. The trigger seems to be linguistics and preparation

Corb behaviors

Blocks: inappropriate stoppage of airflow or voicing, movement of articulators may be stopped

Blocks may occur at any level – respiratory laryngal and articulatory

Name the three main influences related to stuttering.

Genetic and congenital influences, speech and language acquisition and other developmental factors, and environmental influences such as criticism of speech or stressful events.

Fluency

The effortless flow of speech.

Disfluency

An interruption of speech that can occur in fluent speakers and those who stutter.

Stuttering

An abnormally high frequency and/or duration of stoppages in the flow of speech.

Name the core behaviors of stuttering.

Repetitions, prolongations, and blocks.

Repetitions

Single-syllable word or part-word repetitions (e.g., 'ta-table'). A syllable repeated more than twice.

Prolongations

Sound or airflow continues, but the movement of the articulators is stopped.

Blocks

Stoppage of airflow or voicing. Movement of articulators may be stopped.

Name the major secondary behaviors related to stuttering.

Escape behaviors and avoidance behaviors.

Escape behaviors

Behaviors to terminate the stutter and escape the moment of stuttering.

Avoidance behaviors

Attempts to avoid stuttering by, for example, changing the word or saying 'um' just before the word.

Name different feelings that can accompany stuttering.

Embarrassment, frustration, fear, and shame.

According to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability & Health (ICF) system, what is the disability of stuttering?

The limitation stuttering puts on an individual's ability to communicate.

What is the typical age range for the onset of stuttering?

Between 18 months and 12 years, but most often between 2 and 3.5 years (average 2.8 years).

Why is the onset of stuttering difficult to pinpoint?

The onset could be sporadic, coming and going for periods of days or weeks before becoming persistent.

Prevalence

A measure of how many people stutter at any given time.

Incidence

The percentage of people who have stuttered at some point in their life.

What percentage of children recover from stuttering without treatment?

Somewhere between 70% and 80% of children who begin to stutter recover without treatment.

Describe factors that predict recovery from stuttering.

Being right-handed, growing up in a home with a non-demanding mother, having slower speech rate and a more mature speech motor system, simple language when talking, more developed white matter tracts in the brain, and larger breastfeeding duration.

What is the sex ratio in stuttering, both at onset and in the school-age population?

The sex ratio is almost even at the onset of stuttering, but by school age, it's a 3:1 ratio (every 3 boys to 1 girl). Girls start earlier than boys and recover more frequently.

Anticipation in stuttering

Decreased stuttering each time they read a passage. Being able to predict which words they will stutter on in a reading passage.

What linguistic factors are related to stuttering?

Adults stutter more frequently on consonants, sounds in word-initial position, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, longer words, words at the beginning of sentences, and stressed syllables.

Describe several speaking conditions under which stuttering is usually reduced or absent.

Stuttering may be reduced or absent when alone or relaxed, in unison with another speaker, to an animal or infant, when singing, using a different dialect, while simultaneously writing, under loud masking noise, while using delayed auditory feedback, or when reinforced for fluent speech.

Why might stuttering be reduced or absent under certain speaking conditions?

Stuttering has a substantial learned component and is affected by external stimuli such as communication pressure.

Briefly describe what stuttering is, its possible causes, and influences on it.

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder that usually appears in preschool years where brain development or child's environment creates speech production discoordination, resulting in an excess of disfluencies.

Explain what is meant by anticipation, consistency, and adaptation in stuttering

Anticipation: Can predict which words they will stutter on in a reading passage

Consistency: 10 to stutter on the same words each time they read a passage

Adaptation: People who stutter less each time they read it passage up to about six readings