Fluency disorder, often known as cluttering or stuttering as a common name, is a sort of speech disorder that prevents someone from speaking smoothly and comfortably. It first manifests in childhood and may last until adulthood, or it may go away completely.
This disorder affects a speaker's self-confidence and makes them prefer silence most often, but thanks to medical progress, it has become solvable. We chose to emphasize fluency disorder in this article and describe its symptoms, causes, and treatment methods because stuttering is common among children.
What Is Fluency Disorder?
Fluency disorder can be defined as a speech disorder commonly referred to as stuttering or cluttering. The person with this disorder is aware of what they want to say, but their speech capacity betrays them, and their mind does not immediately assist them in finding the right words. Fluency disorders can start in childhood and are characterized by several issues with speech flow and open, spontaneous speaking.
Examples of fluency disorder include prolongation or repetition of a word or a syllable of it, a consonant sound or a vowel, or a complete cessation of pronunciation due to reaching a word that causes a problem for the person with fluency disorder, which causes the child, or the speaker in general, embarrassment, anxiety, and discomfort.
Fluency disorders, or stuttering, are prevalent in young children and are seen as a normal part of their speech-learning process. This is because their minds are overflowing with thoughts and they lack a vocabulary that expresses their desires clearly. They therefore look for a term to express what they wish to say within their limited language. Certainly, finding the right word takes time, and if one is found, the process becomes stuttering or cluttering.
As the child gets older, they do, however, grow out of this type of fluency disorder. This kind of stuttering is comparable to the stuttering of an adult trying to communicate in a foreign language they just learned and do not have a rich linguistic vocabulary for. As a result, it takes them some time to find the right words to convey what is on their mind. This stuttering eventually fades away with consistent language use and the addition of more vocabulary, just as it does with growing children.
However, in some cases, stuttering continues until adulthood, and this negatively affects the speaker's self-confidence and ability to deal with others. We observe that they choose solitude and introversion and shy away from speaking in front of their peers for fear of being made fun of by them.
Once again, we are grateful to science for developing treatment methods that make it possible to overcome speech fluency disorders through speech therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or by incorporating technology into the therapeutic process and using electronic devices to enhance speech fluency.
Symptoms of Fluency Disorder
The following list of symptoms of fluency disorder—a group of clues that this youngster stutters or clutters—indicates that they have fluency disorder:
- Having difficulty starting to pronounce sentences, phrases, and even words.
- Extension of words or some letters within the word.
- Repeating certain words, syllables, or sounds such as (yesterday- yesterday he went to the market, yes- yes- yesterday he went to the market, or ysssssterday he went to the market).
- Repeating words or soundbites that are irrelevant, like (AAA, MMM, Focus with me) a lot during speech, especially while moving to the next word.
- Intermittent speech means that there are periods of silence between some words during the conversation or even between the syllables of the word, and you feel that the speaker has forgotten the word that expresses what they want.
- Feeling anxious and uncomfortable about having to communicate with others and doing so in a limited and ineffective manner.
In addition to these symptoms that appear in the manner of speaking, we find symptoms that appear in the body language of the person who suffers from a fluency disorder, the most important of which are:
- Tension in the face or the upper part of the body while pronouncing the words, and this appears in the form of stiffness in their movement or excessive movement.
- Blinking quickly.
- Trembling of the jaw or lips.
- Tightening the fists.
- Involuntary facial movements.
- Involuntary jerks of the head.
It should be noted that most people with fluency disorder do not suffer from stuttering or cluttering while speaking to themselves or while singing. While speaking amidst feelings of fatigue, fear, excitement, shyness, haste, or under any pressure, stuttering worsens, especially if there is a group of people.
Causes of Fluency Disorder
When examining the reasons for stuttering, researchers identified the following causes of fluency disorder. That is, the full range of occurrences or behaviors that result in stuttering or stammering:
- Deformed ability to control speech movements, such as temporal, sensory, and motor coordination.
- Genetic factor: In the family history of a person with a fluency disorder, there is at least one family member who has suffered from This trait is genetically transmitted as a result of gene distortion.
- Having strokes, brain disorders, or traumatic brain injuries results in nervous stuttering, which manifests in slow or stopped speech or repetition of sounds.
- Crises and emotional and psychological trauma: These crises may cause a child or an adult who does not suffer from fluency disorder to clutter or stutter. When a child is kidnapped or sees a terrible traffic accident in which a family member was killed, this can affect their speech, cause them to stutter, and cause them to lose the ability to speak.
Adults who don't have fluency disorder can stumble on their words under the influence of pressure, anger, trauma, and other emotional overdoses.
Complications of Fluency Disorder
Complications of fluency disorder affect a person and are reflected in their personality through the following points:
- People with fluency disorder have trouble communicating with others.
- People with fluency disorder feel anxious and embarrassed about speaking with others.
- Fluency disorder causes people to avoid talking. They do not stand at selling windows, do not volunteer to speak in front of their peers, and avoid entering professions that require fluency in speaking, such as teaching or reception.
- Low self-confidence and the consequent feeling of weakness, inferiority, or low entitlement.
- Isolation and avoidance of school, work, and social activities, such as camping trips or large family gatherings.
- People who suffer from fluency disorder are bullied and harassed by their siblings and peers; they are also ridiculed and made fun of, which makes it worse.
Treatment of Fluency Disorder
The treatment of fluency disorder is carried out by a speech and language pathologist, who chooses the appropriate treatment method based on the reasons for the disorder. This differs from one person to another, and this makes a certain treatment plan work with one person and not with another because of individual differences in the problem and its causes.
However, in general, the treatment of fluency disorder involves teaching the person the skills to develop effective communication and encouraging them to participate in work, social activities, and school in order to improve speech fluency.
Among the methods of treating fluency disorder, we mention:
1. Speech therapy
It is a treatment method that teaches the patient how to slow down the pace of speech and notice the moment of stuttering. This is done by speaking slowly at the beginning of the treatment process and gradually increasing the pace later on.
2. Electrotherapy
Science has facilitated the use of electronic devices to treat fluency disorders and promote fluency. It requires slowing down the pace of speech to prevent delayed auditory feedback. Otherwise, the sound will come out deformed.
There is also a second method that simulates your speech, making it look like you are in a harmonious conversation with another person. There is another type of electronic device that is defective and requires consultation with a speech and language pathologist in order to find out how to test it.
3. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
It is one of the methods of psychological treatment for fluency disorder, in which the thinking methods that cause a person to stutter are identified in order to change them. It also treats the causes of stuttering if they are psychologically related, such as anxiety, tension, and low self-confidence.
4. Family therapy
In this type of treatment, the family is responsible for pursuing the child's treatment approach with a speech and language pathologist. This participation plays an important and effective role in helping the child get rid of stuttering.
5. Drug Therapy
So far, no drug treatment has been found for fluency disorder, and many drugs have been tried, but none of them has yet been proven effective in solving this problem.
In Conclusion
Fluency disorder is a common speech disorder that occurs in children due to their weak language skills and being new to the speaking process. It is a natural condition that fades during growth, but in some cases, it continues until adulthood.
In such cases, its causes are investigated in order for the patient to receive treatment appropriately by a speech-language pathologist.
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