Stuttering is a common disorder that affects about 1% of the population, with persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) usually developing before puberty. It can be inherited and can severely impair communication, but recovery rates are around 80%. The origin of stuttering is still unclear, but recent scientific findings suggest that it may be related to mild abnormalities in the brain’s motor and premotor areas.
Stuttering is an interruption in the fluency of verbal expression. It is a complaint known for centuries and present in all cultures and ethnic groups. Stuttering is a symptom, not a disease, but the word stuttering is usually used for both the symptom and the disorder that causes it.
The development of stuttering commonly occurs before puberty, between the ages of two and five. The technical term is persistent developmental stuttering (PDS). There is also acquired or neurogenic stuttering, which occurs after brain damage. The neurogenic sufferer may have had a stroke or head injury before acquiring a stutter.
PDS is usually most noticeable at the beginning of a complex sentence, word, or phrase. Associated with this is the anxiety that the sufferer feels, which tends to elevate the problem. However, with repeated reading of the same material, the frequency of stuttering tends to decrease due to adaptation and consistency.
PDS is a very common disorder. About 1% of the population suffers from the complaint, including about three million people in the United States and a total of 55 million worldwide. There is no difference based on social class and stuttering can severely impair communication up to causing very serious social problems for the individual. Stuttering can be an inherited problem passed down from generation to generation.
Recovery rates for a PDS sufferer are approximately 80% and the recovery rate is significantly more frequent in girls than in boys. It is not clear to what extent recovery depends on the patient’s efforts compared to the help of speech therapists, who use breathing techniques to help patients overcome stuttering. There is also no way to predict whether an affected child will recover from the complaint or not.
There are many different theories about the origin of stuttering and its corresponding treatment. Some view it as a learned behavior resulting from an unhappy home life and how a parent reacts to a child’s problems. The seriousness of the problem is clearly compounded by excitement, nervousness and embarrassment, although some brave stutterers have dealt with their problem by standing on the spot in front of large audiences, only to find that the problem vanishes when they face it head on. .
Recent scientific findings from brain scans have shown that stutterers have mild abnormalities in complex coordination tasks. This suggests that the underlying problems lie around the associated motor and premotor brain areas. As brain scans become more sophisticated, it is hoped that more information will become available about the language areas of the brain and the causes of stuttering.
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