What Do You Know About Stuttering?
What do the writer Lewis Carroll, former basketball star Bill Walton, and King George VI have in common? They were all stutterers at some point in their lives. Take this quiz to see how much you know about stuttering.
1. At least 3 million Americans stutter.
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Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a communication disorder.
2. Stuttering affects 2 to 3 times as many people assigned male
at birth as it does people assigned female at birth.
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Experts don't know
why this is so.
3. Despite decades of research, there are no clear-cut answers
about what causes stuttering.
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But much has been
learned about the factors that contribute to the development of stuttering. Genetics
plays a part, because stuttering tends to run in families. Young children who are
pushed
to speak and speak quickly also can develop a stutter. Parents can take several steps
to
help a stutterer. The main step is to slow down when speaking. Another way to help
is to
not bombard your child with questions. If you ask, "What did you do at Johnnie's house?"
that forces the child to come up with an answer quickly. If you say, "You look like
you
had a good time at Johnnie's house," you give the child time to think, without pressure,
and come up with an answer. Reading to your child can also help. And you don't have
to
read something complex for it to work. Simple nursery rhymes teach language by making
it
fun.
4. People who stutter are self-conscious about their stuttering.
They often let the disability determine their career choice.
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People who stutter
often pick careers such as journalism or accounting that don't require a lot of talking.
But what really helps someone who stutters is therapy and practice.
5. You won't find any quick miracle cures for stuttering.
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There is no magic
pill that will make stuttering go away in a day. But a speech-language pathologist
who
specializes in stuttering can help. The amount of therapy and the length of time needed
to accomplish certain goals may vary with each person.
6. A quarter of all children go through a stage of speech development with severe
enough problems to concern their parents.
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Many children
occasionally repeat syllables or words once or twice, li-li-like this. These speech
differences are called dysfluencies. They may also include hesitancies and using fillers
such as "uh," "er," and "um." Experts say that these dysfluencies occur most often
between ages18 months and 5 years. They also tend to come and go. Just remember that
these are often signs that a child is using language in new ways. Experts are working
to
find the gene or genes responsible for stuttering. Once that's done, a child who
stutters may be able to have a simple blood test to see if they carry the marker for
stuttering. If so, that child could then go into therapy right away. A child without
the
marker would outgrow their speech problem over time without therapy.
7. Stuttering becomes more of a problem as a child becomes a
teen.
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Teens are starting
to date and interact socially. Problems with stuttering can make this time hard for
them.
8. Famous people who stutter have included Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Mel
Tillis, Carly Simon, James Earl Jones, and John Updike.
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All of these people and many others went on to lead successful lives.
9. If you want to find therapy for your child with a stuttering
problem, it's best to look for a speech-language pathologist who specializes in
stuttering.
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One way to find
such a professional is to visit the Stuttering Foundation website at www.stutteringhelp.org. Or you may contact
a nearby university or hospital clinic for a referral. You should look for a
speech-language pathologist who has a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
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