We can help you or your child if with stuttering & cluttering?

Stuttering is a stopping of the smooth flow of forward speech. There are stuttering-like disfluencies and non-stuttering like disfluencies. What's the difference?

• Non-stuttering like disfluencies are something every person does. They are often in the form of revisions (ex. "I'm thinking about going to the st...to the mall."), interjections (ex. "I was wondering like, if we could go to the fair."), and phrase repetitions (ex. "I want to see the, to see the elephants at the circus."). 
• Stuttering like disfluencies have 2 main categories: repetitions of sound/syllable and/or words and audible or inaudible prolongations. Here are some examples of each:

1. Sound/Syllable Repetition: "S-s-s-s-salt please."
2. Whole Word Repetition: "He-he-he is going swimming."
3. Audible Prolongation: "Mmmmmmmmy doll!"
4. Inaudible Prolongation or Block: "I want a p___iece of cake."

When we have stuttering like disfluencies, there may be secondary behaviors or non-speech behaviors. This may look like physical tension such as grimacing of the lips or face, jerking of body parts, etc. There are also other symptoms that are noticeable like refusing to speak, slapping or tapping, speaking with an accent, etc. 

To evaluate, the SLP looks at the frequency, type, & duration of the stuttering events, frequency & type of non-speech behaviors, family/developmental history, and subjective rating scales of the client and others (usually parent & teacher). 

The type of stuttering therapy depends on the age of the individual, severity, if desensitization is needed, and if the client has negative beliefs about one's self.

Cluttering, on the other hand, is when a person speaks fast and is difficult to understand. Both stuttering and cluttering may also include a secondary behavior of breathing in the wrong place. 

If you or a loved one, believe you may be a stutterer or clutterer, feel free to reach out to Londa at Key 2 Speech. We would love to help you communicate!