Let's talk about stuttering 22-10-2020

By: Dr. María C. Gutiérrez Giraldo
Speech Therapist/ Pediatric Dentist

For most humans, expressing themselves in words is a routine and even unconscious activity. This tool of communication that makes our lives so much easier and that allows us to remain active in the social environment, in some cases can become torture. Think about how easy it is for a lot of people reading this article to sit down for coffee with a friend while they exchange stories and experiences of the day. Now reverse this situation and put yourself in the shoes of someone who in doing so has a hard time and has intermittent blockages or spasms, interruptions or silences during the conversation. That's why today on International Stuttering Day I want to talk a little bit about it.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) seventy million people have a difficulty in the fluency of speech known as dysphemia or also commonly called stuttering. It is characterized by interruptions of speech fluency and according to the way it manifests will be classified into different types. In the case of tonic there are interruptions caused by muscle spasms while in the Clonic there is a repetition of syllables and words. Finally, we can present the most common tonic-clonic that is no more than a combination of the two above.

There is no specific cause for this situation, but it is believed that some factors can influence the brain, psychological or genetic level, none of which has actually been proven. Dysphemia is frequent in young children when they are at the stage of learning speech, this is possible since they have not developed enough to keep pace with what they want to say and this means that for trying to say a lot they suffer blockages that lead them to repeat syllables or words. This normal event at these ages is known as developmental stuttering, and the big difference is that as speech strengthens, dysphemia decreases until it disappears. It is important to note that men are more susceptible to manifesting the disorder than women.

Signs and symptoms may vary from person to person, but in the vast majority of cases, they may include:

• Repetition of a sound, syllable or word
• Difficulty starting a word, phrase, or sentence
• Pauses within a single word or short silences to pronounce syllables or words
• Excessive tension, stiffness, or movement of the face or upper body to say a word
• Anxiety about having to talk
• Isolation.

All this can be accompanied by closed fists, excessive blinking, sweating in the hands, shaking of the face or lips, and Tics.

There are different alternatives and methods used by speech therapists that help create effective management strategies for this disorder. It is also very important to keep in mind that the early start of the intervention will give more opportunities for its treatment in such a way that it can be reduced, improved or provide guidelines to manage it effectively for the patient.

Finally, it is essential to highlight the importance of family support since a collaboration of the environment will allow a favorable adaptation of those who have this disorder.

If any of your relatives have this condition, I invite them to talk about it in therapy to obtain the tools that will allow them to have a healthy dynamic and an effective management of this disorder. Click here to schedule an appointment./a>