Stuttering is a violation of the smoothness and rhythm of speech. It occurs due to convulsions of the muscles of the speech apparatus, accompanied by respiratory failure, changes in the pitch and strength of sound, etc. 1% of adults and 2-3% of the small inhabitants of our planet suffer from it. Boys, by the way, are four times more likely than girls. Most often, stuttering begins in early childhood (2-5 years) – at this time the baby is most actively forming phrasal speech, which means that it is the speech function that becomes the most vulnerable area of the psyche. Therefore, any disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system can cause a breakdown of speech.
How does it manifest
Many are sure that stuttering arises from a fright or a “loud” conflict of parents – that is, after some kind of psychological trauma. But all the children are sometimes scared, sometimes very much, and not everyone after that starts to stutters. So, it’s not only a matter of fright.
The reason for this violation lies in the fact that the person who had a “breakdown” of speech already had a predisposition to it, and the traumatic situation simply layered. According to experts, such children have an increased level of anxiety.
The disease has a complex origin. When the relationship of nervous processes in the cerebral cortex is disrupted, a failure occurs in the transmission of nerve impulses, including to the speech reproduction area. Convulsions occur in various parts of the speech apparatus (larynx, pharynx, tongue, lips). As a result, some of its components work earlier, others later. The pace and smoothness of speech movements is violated – the vocal cords tightly close or open, the voice suddenly disappears, the words are pronounced in a whisper and elongated – “pp-field”, “bbb-be-birch.”
There are several reasons for this. But the main one is the weakness of the nervous system, most often caused by infectious diseases (complications after measles, scarlet fever, meningitis, encephalitis) or sluggish chronic pathology – rheumatism, pneumonia, etc. Sometimes children are already born with a weakened nervous system – for example, due to the unfavorable course of pregnancy.
Psychology
There are other reasons – psychological. Abnormal living conditions, quarrels of parents with a child, harsh attitude towards him, conflicting demands of senior family members injure the child’s psyche and entail speech disorder. By the way, both backlog and too rapid development of speech are undesirable. It happens that a child, imitating the sloppy speech of others, seeks to express his thoughts as soon as possible, gets confused, gets confused in sounds and also starts to stutters.
What to do
Here, more than ever, the principle “the sooner the better” is important – the “fresh” stutter can be eliminated in two weeks.
There are many methods of treatment – from speech therapy massage to hypnosis. But successful examples show: treatment should be comprehensive.
First of all, it is necessary to determine the type of stuttering – this will determine what to do next. Therefore, you first need to go to a neurologist, and if he does not reveal serious malfunctions in the central nervous system, then most likely, a speech therapist will solve the problem. But this is in mild cases. Usually several specialists have to work at once.
And the help of a qualified neuropathologist-reflexologist can be crucial here. Indeed, in stuttering children and adults, in addition to impaired general and speech motility, often there is general muscle tension, stiffness, angular movements or, conversely, motor anxiety, frequent cramps, headaches.
With trauma (including birth), stress, and diseases, some muscles contract, and remain in this state. They are straining during negative emotions. If a person constantly experiences the same feelings, tension builds up, and in certain places so-called myofascial formations arise – compressed spasmodic areas of muscle tissue that interfere with the transmission of a nerve impulse.
– Almost all stuttering children have clamps in the shoulder girdle, neck and even abdomen. By the way, because of this, even the head of many people is slightly advanced. Therefore, at the first stage of treatment, the most important thing is to find these changed areas and remove stress there. Unfortunately, they usually resort to medical treatment, and it gives a weak and short-lasting effect. Myotherapy is needed here – muscle treatment.
