Whereas some children were afraid of the dark, spiders, monsters or even ghosts, I was not. And whereas most children never encountered their fear every moment of their lives, I did. Moreover, as most children gradually overcame their fears—mine persisted. I had and still have a fear of opening my mouth. In the days of my early youth, and even now in my adolescents, I would keep my mouth closed, not because I wanted to, but because I was afraid to open it. The fear of stuttering has gripped and changed the life of stutterers and mine forever. Opportunities have come and passed, which stutterers have been unable to grab a hold of because of this fear that has tied them to a pole. The psychological toll stuttering has on individuals is perhaps not measurable, but it is certainly present. For many, there has been a stigma associated with stuttering, and they have had to live their lives under the umbrella of it. Stutterers process information differently from non-stutterers, stutterers are complex as a population, and that is not to say that non-stutterers are not complex; stutterers as a population do not intrinsically feel nervous, shy or afraid, as what was commonly thought, instead stutterers possess the same confidence levels as non-stutterers; society plays a role in how stutterers view themselves and the negative image society portrays of the stutterer has many stutterers trying to hide their stuttering for fear of ridicule.
What Is Stuttering?
Here will be an attempt to describe what stuttering is. Stuttering is also referred to as stammering in Great Britain. Stuttering is a communication disorder, in which speech flow is disrupted by prolonged sounds, like, (wwwhy) or repetition sounds like, (li-li-like this). Stammering causes involuntary pauses or blocks in which the stammer is unable to crop up the sounds he or she wishes to produce (2). Along with these signs, stutterers may also exhibit strange facial and body movements when attempting to speak, such as rapid eye blinks, tremors of the lips and/or jaw or other struggles of the upper body. Certain situations, such as speaking on the telephone, or talking in front of a group increases the chances of stuttering for individuals who stutter, while, other situations such as singing, or speaking alone, often causes improvement in speech fluency (3). Below shall be an attempt to delineate the current held causes of stuttering.
There is no definite causation for stuttering. So far, research has been able pinpoint a variety of factors most likely to aid the development of stuttering. The truth is “the precise mechanisms causing stuttering [is] not understood”(3). Over the years, there have been many bizarre explanations. In 1928, Freud’s protege Isador Coriat suggested that the disorder stemmed from unresolved oral-erotic needs. Two decades later, Otto Fenichel claimed in his book, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis, that stuttering related to an anal-sadistic fixation (4). The theories provided in the earlier decades all seem absurd, yet those ideas were thought to be the causes of stuttering. However, in modern times, science has been able to locate a few reasons for stammering.
Causes of Stuttering?
First, genetics, about 60% of stammers have a family member who also stutters, however, scientists have not yet found a gene(s) that attribute to stuttering. According to Nicole Grinager Ambrose, Ehud Yairi and Nancy Cox study, “Genetic Aspects of Early Childhood Stuttering,” roughly 68% of children who stutter have relatives in their extended family that stutter. The research also goes on to suggest that approximately 39% of children who stutter have stutterers in their immediate families. While about 27% of stutterers have a parent, usually a father, who stammers. This study is a good mirror into stuttering and its genetic tendencies. Other research suggests that twins have a far higher rate of stuttering among themselves than siblings who grow up in the same family. “Other studies show that there is a clear genetic inheritance pattern spanning various generations” (5). The studies conclude to a strong claim that genetics play a big role in the acquisition of stuttering.
Second, and perhaps the most common causation of stuttering is in child development. It is found that children when in speech and language development are more likely to stutter than at any other point in their lives. This type of stuttering occurs when a child’s speech and language abilities are unable to meet their verbal demands. This form of stammering also occurs when a child searches for the correct word and cannot locate it. Childhood stuttering in most cases is outgrown it.
Third—neurophysiology—recent study shows that people who stutter process speech and language in different areas of the brain than those who do not stammer. In the case of neurogenic stuttering, “problems arise from signal problems/confusion between the brain and nerves or muscles” (3). The brain is unable to coordinate effectively in that precise moment in time all aspects of a stutterers speech motors and brain parts, which perfect speech. Because of the inability of the brain to control all areas of speech, some parts of communication are not carried across, causing stuttering. Neurogenic stuttering may also be the result of a stroke or some sort of brain injury (3).
Fourth, family dynamics play a role in stuttering. High expectations and fast paced lifestyles can contribute to stuttering (2). Other forms of stammering are labeled as psychogenic, or that which “comes from the mind, or mental activity of the brain such as thought and reasoning” (3). This form of stuttering is when emotional problems cause stuttering such as fear of meeting new people or speaking in public. This strand of stuttering was once thought to be the major cause of stuttering, but research has shown that this only accounts for a minority of stutterers. Indeed, stammers may develop emotional problems, but that is now considered to come from stuttering and not visa versa (3).
Stuttering A Stigma in Society
Stuttering has become a stigma in society through time. Part of the shame stutterers face is the idea that stuttering is a mental disorder. Traditionally, people thought stuttering was solely psychogenic, meaning that it was thought to be a sign of someone’s unresolved psychological conflicts. Even the original meaning of “stuttering” places a strong stigma on the stutterer. “The terms stutterer and barbarian both refer to ‘those people who do not speak our language’…Barbarian, in fact, often suggests ‘a people whose language ‘we’ do not understand’ – those who speak mere gibberish, say, or those whose language is not ours. The Latin balbus (stammer) and its English cognates have much the same double meanings. The term stutter and barbarian both also refer to ‘those people who, although they do speak our language, do not speak it ‘ in our way”(9). In the past, stutterers in India were thought to possess a demon, and were forbidden from talking to children, in the fear that they, the stutterers, would spread it to the children. Stuttering has been condescended upon for a long time, and it is no wonder that people with it try very fervently to hide it and feel ashamed in speaking, for fear of showing it. This is enhanced by the media’s portrayal of the stutterer.
“Porky Pig is Warner Bothers’ most popular and longest-lived cartoon character, whose comedy is derived entirely from the torture of his stuttering. In a scene, Porky Pig records himself saying the Old MacDonald’s tune, and then he decides to replay it to himself. Upon hearing his stammering on the tape he smashes it against the playback machine in utter frustration”(9). It is household cartoon characters like Porky Pig that feed the false misconception that stuttering is a negative thing to possess. Because of these misconceptions stutterers when they can, attempt to hide the fact that they stutterer—and when they inevitably fail at this attempt, feelings of frustration, anger and nervousness are present.
Negative Emotional Impact: Stutterer Tries To Hide.
Stuttering has a significant negative emotional impact on the stutterer. Joseph Sheehan, a prominent researcher of stuttering, who stammers himself, created a famous analogy about stuttering. In his analogy, he compared stuttering to an iceberg, with the overt aspects of stuttering above the waterline, and the larger mass of negative emotions invisible below the surface (8). Feelings such as embarrassment, shame, frustration, fear, anger and guilt are present in all stutterers. “Those are the feelings that stutterers feel when they try to speak a simple sentence and cannot” (8). The effort on the part of the stutterer not to stutter causes increased stuttering. And this result, with time crystallizes into a negative self-concept and self-image. Here is a chart of Joseph Sheehan’s analogy.
Overt Stammering
obvious blocks and repetitions
Covert Aspects Of Stammering
may include hidden negative feelings e.g.
fear shame humiliation hiding embarrassment self hatred
which can lead to changes in behavior which hide stammering e.g.
avoidance of talking and/or avoidance of certain situations
avoidance of relationships - you may stammer as you open up and get to know people
changing words at last minute
not making phone calls
pretending to be someone who does not stammer
Some people's stammering is more underneath the iceberg so that others may not be aware you stammer at all
Some stutters manage to avoid outward symptoms by substituting symptoms and by feigning ignorance. Stutterers “can be so good at avoidance that co-workers and even spouse or family [members do not] know that the person stutters," writes Thomas David Kehoe, author of Stuttering: Science, Therapy and Practice (Casa Futura, 1997) "Even though their speech sounds fine, these 'covert' stutterers can be crippled by severe psychological fear and anxiety.
In a study done by Dr. Martin F. Schwartz, he had a stuttering population of 492 males and 133 females. The mean age for the males was 31.6 years, while the mean age for the women was 27.4. In his findings, he found out that 538 of his patients showed overt signs of stuttering. On the hand, 87 stutterers hid their stuttering; it was found that 62 females were covert stutterers, compared to only 25 males (11). So, although men are more likely to stutterer, women are far more likely to hide their stuttering than men.
Dr. Schwartz reported that covert stutterers were fatigued at the end of each day, as there was no such thing as a normal or “idle conversation” (11) because they were constantly searching and hunting for substitute words during conversations. They do this because they are trying to hide their stuttering from the world because of the stigma society places on it. Thus, each day is a struggle. Covert stutterers even do not mind coming across as stupid, but as long as they hide the fact that they stutter, they are fine with it. Covert stutterers try to hide the fact that they stutter even though it takes a great emotional and psychological toll on them, because they know that the world, even that of academia is not kind to those who stutterer, and it looks at them, the stutterer, as if there were something innately wrong about/with them.
Academia And World: Negative Stereotypes, Exclusion Of Stutterers.
Peter Reitzes, a speech-pathology master's student at New York University, discovered last year that one of the conditions of being assigned to a practicum was that his own speech needed to be absent of stuttering. "Communication skills must be free from any identifiable disorders," wrote the associate dean in a 1997 letter to Reitzes. "In general, speech must be free of sound and syllable repetitions, prolongations and block (6). And many young scholars who stutter do not go on to do graduate work, because they fear that they will fail their oral exams” (9). It is incidences like these, which drives many stutters from positions in academia and other public speaking positions.
Studies by Crow, Fowlie and Woods have found that many people possess negative stereotypes about stutterers. Some of these stereotypes are that stammers are generally quiet, introverted, self-derogatory, nervous, tense, afraid and anxious. During World War II this notion was played upon, “stutterers were rejected from the armed services because it was assumed that they were apt to break down under stress” (13). Society has not been kind to stutterers and it is because of this that many stutterers have thought that there is something wrong with them.
Stutterers Are Not Inherently Different
In 1952, Dahlstrom and Craven administered the “ Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to a 100 stutterers enrolled in the University of Iowa Speech Clinic and compared their test performance with that of 100 university freshmen, a group of psychiatric patients, and a sample of college students who had applied for counseling because of personal problems. The test found that the stutterers did not differ significantly from the freshmen” (13). In this study, it is obvious that stutterers do not genetically possess a different set of emotional traits compared to non-stutterers. Indeed, the stutterer feels anxious when he does stutter in front of someone, but only when he or she stutters. Further studies were designed to prove this. The Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) is a test that tests projective technique. In this test, the participants are asked to create a story of designed pictures, which the characters possess ambiguous age and gender orientation. These stories were supposed to show inferences of the patients psychological needs, attitudes and cravings. In this test, it was found that stutterers showed no difference compared to non-stutterers in terms of needs, reactions to frustration and unsatisfactory endings (13). From these tests, one can see that stutterers do not possess a weakened sense of emotions. It is also clear that stutterers are not apt to break down as what was otherwise thought.
Much of a stutterers fear stems from the fear of his or her listener’s reaction. And it must be stated that those fears to a certain extent are legitimate. Jim McClure, a Chicago public-relations consultant chimed in with, “I had the host of an upscale restaurant refuse to make a reservation because ‘we don't seat people with speech impediments’” (6). Jim McClure continued, "If you limp and use a cane, people open doors for you. If you use a hearing aid, they talk louder. But if you stutter, people think you are very dumb or psychologically disturbed or a homicidal maniac. That's had generations of us (stutters) chasing fluency" (6). However, a stutterers brain innately functions differently from a non-stutterers brain.
Different Brain Activity for Stutterers
Studies have shown that stutterers think differently from non-stutterers. A new study from Purdue Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences, “Phonologic Processing in Adults Who Stutter: Electrophysiological and Behavioral Evidence,” by Christine Weber-Fox, Rebecca M. C. Spencer and John E. Spruill attempted to find out if a stutterers mind even while not speaking thought differently from a non-stutterers. In a rhyming study, 22 people were tested. Half of the stutterers in the study saw a series of two words flash on a computer screen. “Their task was to identify which pairs of words rhymed without saying the word out loud. Some word groups were spelled alike but did not rhyme, such as "gown" and "own," and others did not look similar but did rhyme, such as "cone" and "own." The other variations were words that looked similar and did not rhyme, such as "gown" and "own," and words that did not look similar or rhyme, such as "cake" and "own." This method evaluated the adults' ability to translate sounds when not verbalizing them”(10).
The researches found that individuals who stuttered had similar brain activity response, accuracy and response times when it came to three of the four rhyming variations. E.g. words that looked alike and rhymed such as “thrown” and “own.” However, if the words looked alike, but didn’t rhyme, such as “gown” and “own,” then the responses were delayed to 420milliseconds. The other three variations of words all averaged about 350milliseconds among all participants, stutterers and non-stutterers (10).
Weber-Fox said, “We saw no difference in the fundamental processing when looking at words like gown and own. The difference was in the complexity of the language task. Also of note during this study was the increase in activity in the brain’s right hemisphere for participants who stuttered as they viewed rhyming words. This shows that individuals who stutter are using right hemisphere brain areas to a greater extent to accomplish the rhyming tasks than those who don't stutter” (10).
Conclusion
Unfortunately, there is no cure for stammering, although some have claimed to have found one. Most children grow out of it, but those who do not, are probably going to have it their entire lives. However, for those who will only get rid of their of stuttering when they die, it is important that they do not hide under a rock. March Shell, a Harvard Professor, who stutters says, “The most common symptom of stuttering is silence.” But, stutterers have to break free of that. Stutterers have to take up public eye roles such as Marilyn Monroe and Winston Churchhill (2) to name a few. Society ridicules the stutterer, but the stutterer has to overcome it. Society for its part has to cease to ridicule stutterers and treat them with more respect and dignity—but hopefully that will change, as science gets better and an understanding of stuttering is achieved. Stutterers have to realize that there is nothing wrong with stuttering, and that should start from society, which has to treat stutterers like equals, because there is nothing intrinsically wrong or bad about stuttering. I shall conclude with Anne H. Mavor’s words in her article “mouthpieace”, a stutterers speech to an audience, "I s-see words. I see lace-covered words that walk into the room. I see words b-built out of concrete that do not move. I see stacked dirty dishes of words. I see words that jog by wearing, new running suits. I see words of gossamer silk that drift across our minds. I see words waiting in line at the ladies room. I see words that curl up by the fire and whisper s-sweet nothings." I hold my hand out invitingly. "Come here little word. Come here. I won't hurt you. I want to be friends. Can we be friends?" (6) And that perhaps sums up the thoughts feelings and of a stutterer. They just want to be friends with words. They just want to play with words just like anybody else.
MLA
1. Neil Gordon, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, Volume 44, Issue 04, Apr 2002, pp 278-282
doi: 10.1017/S0012162201002067, Published online by Cambridge University Press 22 May 2002
2. "Frequently Asked Questions." The Stuttering Foundation. 21 Nov. 2007. 18 Nov. 2007
3. "Stutter." Nidcd.Nih.Gov. 18 Nov. 2007
4. "InfoStuttering." 12 Nov. 2007
5. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00003C9F-EFAB-1ECC-8E1C809EC588EF21
6. Mavor, Anne. "MouthPiece." 1 Apr. 1998. 19 Nov. 2007
7.Lexinenexus
8. "Interiosed Stammering." The British Stammering Association. June 2002. 15 Nov. 2007
9. Shell, Marc. Stutter. Cambridge: Harvard, 2005.
10. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research Vol.47 1244-1258 December 2004. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2004/094)
11. Schwartz, Dr. Martin F. Stutter No More. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
12. Bloodstein, Oliver. A Handbook on Stuttering. San Diego: Singular Group, INC, 1995
13. Bloodstein, Oliver. Stuttering: the Search for a Cause and Cure. Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon, 1993.
