Primary stuttering
As we have seen, primary stuttering tends to regress spontaneously with age: however, the disorder is noticeably embarrassing for the child, as well as being worrying for the parent, powerless before the verbal disfluency of the child.
Many doctors say that a speech therapy aimed at small stuttering children does not exist: only when stuttering persists even after development, are recommended by the speech therapist.
Blocks, repetitions and extensions of some words are typical of primary stuttering. By "verbal block" we mean that interruption of sound, followed by an inevitable halt in the flow of air and a possible blockage of the articular movement of the tongue and lips. The verbal repetitions represent replicas of sounds, vowels, syllables or words within a speech (eg so-so-dream): repetitions, in general, are the earliest manifestations of stuttering. By "prolongation" of words we mean, instead, the forced extension of some consonants (or vowels), generally those of beginning word (ex. Mmmmmale): the prolonged words, also typical of stuttering children, represent a a sort of difficulty in getting the words out, regardless of the desire to express one's thoughts.
Some children who recover completely from stuttering, in adulthood almost tend to forget the problem they had during childhood, and with it they are inclined to "cover" all the events that occurred during that period, almost like an unconscious desire to cancel the verbal disorder that has tormented them for years.
Secondary stuttering
Generally, secondary stuttering is a consequence of the primary, and much more evident than it: if the primary stuttering focuses "only" on the difficulty of making a fluid speech, in the secondary one the disorder is also accompanied by reflex movements. The movements with the eyes are typical of true stuttering patients: the stutterer tends not to look in the eye the interlocutor, probably for fear of being judged, it almost seems an unconscious refusal, a desire to "not wanting to see and not wanting to know" the reaction of the same. Again, the stutterer tends to continually beat his eyelashes during the speech: this continuous, almost incessant movement could be a stimulus to try to scan the rhythm of the words.
When particular attention is paid to the sentences of the stutterers, one may notice a certain predilection for some words that are interspersed by the stutterer to help himself during the conversation: they are the starters, verbal stratagems (eg, ie, ahem, etc.) which, according to stutterer, help to talk.
Severe forms of stuttering sometimes induce the patient to voluntarily abstain from certain words, considered "too difficult" to pronounce. Other times, instead, the fear of jamming during a simple interview generates a real refusal to speak in public.
Latent stuttering
Typical of stutterers, it is the replacement of some words with others, in order to avoid continually getting stuck during the speech, looking for words that are simpler to say, with a similar meaning: it is a very useful technique able to perfectly hide the problem . In this case we speak of latent stuttering.
In reality, in the ears of others the subject suffering from latent stuttering has no difficulty in expressing himself, far from it: the problem, however, remains inside the subject, like a brand printed in focus that nobody can see, if not himself. Latent stuttering is no less serious than true stuttering: it is a condition that generates stressful situations for the stutterer, since he is forced to think in advance what to say and how to say what he would like to express. The continuous and assiduous search for different words, simpler to say, of similar but not entirely equal meaning, could generate unpleasant situations: the choice of a word rather than another might not be the right alternative, since often times the stutterer is "forced" to express a different concept from what he really wanted to say.
Speech disorders and stuttering
Stuttering often does not remain a phenomenon in its own right, manifesting itself at the same time through other disorders, such as slurred speech, tachyalia (increase in the speed of exposing the speech) and the tumult of the word (the subject speaks quickly and tends to "eat") the words).
Causes
The underlying causes of stuttering are still the object of study for many authors: in fact, behavioral, psycho-dynamic, organic and functional elements coexist in the manifestation of stuttering.
For the so-called "evolutionary" stuttering (language disorder that begins during childhood and continues into adulthood) the causes still represent an unknown, unlike the acquired stutter: in the latter case, the verbal disfluency could be a consequence of severe trauma, such as head neoplasms, strokes and head injuries. In this type of stuttering, the repetition of words, in general, is not extended throughout the discourse, but is limited to some precise words; in acquired stuttering, anxiety and stress do not seem to affect the (lacked) fluency of speech.
Acquired stuttering of psychogenic origin could be linked to childhood trauma, mourning, sentimental disappointment or, in some cases, could identify an immediate psychological reaction in response to a physical accident.
It has been found that stuttering hardly affects deaf or hearing impaired people.
However, the search for the main causes of stuttering is almost complex and difficult to interpret given the different levels of severity of the disease.
Primarily the genetics: when the child, particularly male, shows difficulty in expressing himself verbally starting from childhood, and if he had close stuttering relatives, the risk of maintaining stuttering even in adulthood is three times higher than those who he doesn't have them.
Despite what has been said, it is good to point out that 40-70% of patients with stuttering do not have family ties with stutterers, so the search for causes is particularly complex: the stuttering gene has not yet been isolated, therefore it cannot be affirmed with certainty the biological inheritance of the disorder.
See also: Stuttering - Causes and Symptoms
