What is stuttering? Have you ever had someone who was verbally trying to communicate with you but kept repeating the same word or sound over and over again? Did you feel frustrated and wished they would just get the words out and move on? If so, you probably have encountered someone with a stuttering problem. Many people have this frustrating issue. Imagine the frustration they feel as they live with this problem everyday of their lives. The word “stuttering” can be used to refer either to the specific speech disfluencies, any of various breaks, irregularities, or non-lexical vocables that occurs within the flow of otherwise fluent speech, that are commonly produced by people who stutter or to the overall communication difficulty that people who stutter may experience. In addition to producing disfluencies, people who stutter often experience physical tension and struggle in their speech muscles, as well as embarrassment, anxiety, and fear about speaking. Stuttering begins during childhood, is …show more content…
Trying to identify stuttering is not easy. Although the disfluencies will "stand out" like a sore thumb and disrupt a person's communication, it is the listeners who usually detects when a person is stuttering. Sometimes, though, stuttering can affect more than just a person's observable speech and is not as easy for listeners to detect. In this instance, a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) will have to make the diagnosis. During the evaluation a SLP will examine the number of times disfluencies a person has in different situations. They will also examine what makes these disfluencies worse, such as teasing, staring or laughing. An assessment can them be made based on the person’s age and history. This information about the person is analyzed to determine whether a stuttering disorder exists. If it does exist, the SLP will determine the extent to which it affects the ability to perform and participate in daily