Stuttering Factors and Core Behaviors

Factors Predisposing, Precipitating, and Perpetuating Stuttering

• Factors that may predispose a child to stutter:
  • Genetic and congenital influences.
  • Speech and language acquisition and other developmental influences.
  • Environmental influences like criticism of speech or stressful events combine neurodevelopmental sector.
  • Heightened embarrassment.

Fluency vs. Disfluency vs. Stuttering

• Fluency: The effortless flow of speech.
• Disfluency: An interruption of speech that can occur in both typical speakers and those who stutter.
• Stuttering: Abnormally high frequency and/or abnormality of the flow of speech.

Core Behaviors of Stuttering

Core Behavior 1: Repetitions

• Repetitions: May be single syllable word or part-word repetitions.
  • A syllable repeated more than #times (Note: The number is missing, but this indicates multiple repetitions of a syllable).

Core Behavior 2: Prolongations

• Prolongations: Sound or airflow continues, but the movement of articulators is stalled.

Core Behavior 3: Blocks

• Blocks: Inappropriate stoppage of airflow or voicing; movement of articulators may be stopped.