This research paper provides a description of stuttering. Three sections discussed include the following: description of the disorder; differential diagnoses; and treatment.
The main feature of the diagnosis, stuttering, is a disturbance of speech that is inappropriate for the individual's age, that is characterized by frequent repetitions or prolongations of sounds. Other speech dysfluencies such as interjections, broken words, audible or silent blocking, circumlocutions, monosyllabic whole word repetitions, and words with excess physical tension, might be involved. Disturbances interfere with functioning (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV), 1994, p. 63).
Associated features include anxiety, low self-esteem, unawareness, avoidance, and motor movements. The disorder, Stuttering is associated with Phonological Disorder and expressive Language Disorder (DSM-IV, 1994, pp. 64-65).
Psychodynamic theory of stuttering states that the stutterer is working through the intolerable experience of separation from the primary caretaker with a resulting catastrophic experience regarding the oedipal situation (Plankers, 1999, p. 239).
The National Center for Stuttering (1999) reports on the sources of tension on the vocal cords that lead to physiological predisposition for stuttering. These tensions include incorrect vocal cord tension, incorrect speed of speech, anticipation of stuttering, environmental stress and subconscious conflicts, systemic sources (diet, illness), and underdevelopment of higher brain centers affecting inhibitory control. It is concluded that people born with less inhibitory control are predisposed to stuttering when under conditions of vocal cord tension (pp. 1-8).
Stuttering is found three times more in males than females, and is more prevalent in prepubertal children (one percent) than adolescence (0.8 percent) (DSM
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