September 2008 - The Parklander Magazine

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Do You Know Someone that Stutters
By Robin Best, M.A., C.C.C., P.A.
Part of my practicum graduate training as a speech
language pathologist was to go to three separate
places and stutter on purpose to see how other
people responded and how it made me feel.
Of all the assignments I’ve ever had in my school career this was a lesson
learned and remembered for over 25 years. The general public can be
impatient, condescending, perplexed and even mean when it comes to
dealing with a person who stutters. I encountered these attitudes and it
caused me to feel inadequate, self conscious, and out of place.
Whenever I work with a client/patient, I try to remember how I felt when
I posed as someone with a speech impediment. I remind myself that this is
their every day life. Communication is one of the most essential parts of
our existence as human beings other than the bodily functions that keep us
alive and productive.
People who stutter are predominately male at a ratio of 5 to 1. They are
usually high achievers, perfectionists, and of average to above average
intelligence. Rather than continuing to profile these people into a
specific set of criteria, suffice it to say,…they are in good company with
other people who stutter, such as: Winston Churchill, Bruce Willis,
Carly Simon, James Earl Jones, John Stossel and Tiger Woods. I believe
that the statistic, one out of every one hundred people have some level of
dysfluency, is accurate.
If stuttering is so prevalent, why don’t we know more about it My response
to that is that we need to make the effort to learn more about those who
stutter, why people stutter and what the listener can do so we can be helpful
to a very important segment of our population that is often misunderstood,
harassed, teased and taunted.
First, we need to define stuttering. In the book Terminology of
Communication Disorders Speech Language Hearing, the authors - Lucille
Nicolosi, Elizabeth Harryman and Janet Kresheck - define stuttering as,
“Disturbance in the normal fluency and time patterning of speech
characterized by one or more of the following: (a) audible or silent blocking;
(b) sound and syllable repetitions; (c) sound prolongations; (d) interjections;
(e) broken words; (f) circumlocutions; or (g) words produced with an excess
of tension.” These are the primary characteristics of stuttering. Secondary
characteristics often accompany the primary symptoms, such as: loss of eye
contact, body position and posture, hand banging, kicking or tapping,
avoidance behavior, just to name a few.
Best Interventions
Have your Medical and Therapy needs
provided to you in one location.
• Ear-Nose and Throat Physician, Audiologist, Occupational
therapist and Speech Language Pathologists.
• The office has a Speech Language Pathologist that is able to
provide therapy for English and Spanish speakers.
• Saturday appointments available.
• State of the art video taping and viewing technology
available to enhance therapy sessions in an accessible location.
Call Robin Best, M.A., C.C.C., P.A. at 954-345-3799
to learn more about what we can offer you or visit
www.RobinBest.com
Stuttering usually begins around the age of two to about the age of six.
These same ages are also indicative of a normal developmental dysfluency
that a youngster will grow out of naturally. It is important to differentiate
the two and may be advisable to seek professional help to discern the
difference. It is not possible to explain all the characteristics of stuttering
in an article such as this. But I’m sure that if you have any concerns at all
for yourself or your loved ones you should learn more on your own.
When speaking to a person that stutters try to follow these guidelines.
• Be patient until they finish what they are saying.
• Model a slower, easier pattern of speech to help pace them.
• Do not tell them to stop or relax or slow down while they are
speaking.
• Maintain eye contact with them.
• Do not finish their thought.
In conclusion, if you or someone you know stutters, educate yourself
with resources such as the Stuttering Foundation of America, www.stutteringhelp.org,
and books and articles found at the library and universities.
Please call a professional for help. Recovery for fluency therapy can be as
high as 80%. Early intervention is the key to avoiding negative social
interaction and encouraging better self-esteem.
Robin Best, M.A., C.C.C., P.A. is a Speech Language Pathologist with
Best Interventions in Coral Springs. She received her BA from Adelphi
University and Master’s Degree from Hofstra University.
112 SEPTEMBER 2008