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Dubai: While there is no known cure for stuttering, doctors say early intervention and speech therapy are effective tools for treating or managing stuttering. On the occasion of World Stuttering Day (October 22), they also highlighted the importance of raising public awareness to combat social stigma associated with language barriers.
Dr Sriram Raghavendran, a psychiatrist at NMC Specialist Hospital-Dubai Investment Park, explained the situation, telling Gulf News: “Stuttering, also known as stuttering, or the more apt medical term, ‘childhood fluency disorder’, is a Frequent and significant problems involving normal speech flow.
Dr. Sriram Raghavendran
“People who stutter know what they want to say but have difficulty speaking. They may repeat or prolong a syllable, a consonant or a vowel or a word. They may even pause when speaking because they encounter a problematic word or sound.”
He added: “But we have to understand that it is not the child’s fault to have this disease. Stuttering can be linked to genetic factors, stress and other neurological and psychiatric problems. We must raise awareness to remove the stigma surrounding stuttering.”
Dr. Raghavendran said the recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the latest standard for clinicians to communicate with patients, provides a more apt medical term for stuttering, ‘childhood fluency disorder’.
“Not a defect”
The psychiatrist, who has more than a decade of clinical, teaching and research experience in psychiatry and psychology, made it clear that childhood fluency disorders should not be viewed as a defect in children.
“Stuttering is something that goes without warning, and parents should be very supportive. They should also have a proper support system in place,” Dr. Raghavendran said, noting that intervention should be undertaken when the condition is detected early.
He continued: “Parents can take their children to see a psychiatrist and/or speech-language pathologist. An appropriate coordinated and multidisciplinary team approach should be taken for childhood fluency disorders. Get treatment as soon as possible.”
signs and symptoms
According to Dr. Raghavendran, signs and symptoms of stuttering may include “difficulty starting a word, phrase or sentence; prolongation of a word or sound within a word; repetition of sounds, syllables or words; brief silences of certain syllables or words, or Pause in a word”.
Additional words can also be added, such as “um,” or difficulty getting to the next word. Difficulty speaking may be accompanied by rapid blinking, twitching of the lips or jaw, head twitching, or facial twitching (sudden twitching).
Dr Raghavendran said: “Stuttering can be worse when a person is excited, tired or stressed or stressed. Stuttering is common in children between the ages of two and five. For most children, it’s part of learning how to speak, and with As they grow, the situation will improve. However, persistent stuttering requires immediate treatment to improve language fluency.
He added: “Stuttering affects how children see themselves, and how others see them. Children may become withdrawn to reduce feelings of embarrassment. This disadvantage may then contribute to worsening stuttering.”
success story
Shagufa Hussain
Shagufa Hussain, speech therapist at NMC Deira Medical Center, says stuttering or stuttering is a verbal command that can have adverse emotional effects on an individual, but can be easily resolved with speech therapy and medical intervention.
Hussain, who specialises in paediatric audiology and speech therapy, cites the recent case of Zubair Mohammad (name changed on request), a 5-year-old boy from the UK living in Dubai.
Hussein told Gulf News that Zubair came here on August 29, 2022, complaining of stuttering for more than six months. Hussain observed that the children stuttered more on vowels and connectives. He has a lot of repetitions at the beginning of the word.
“Zubair also exhibited more physically accompanying behaviors, such as clenching his jaw tightly when stuttering, closing his eyes tightly until words came out, and increasing his loudness when stuttering. Expect neck and jaw when stuttering. There will also be a lot of tension in the area,” Hussein added.
After a series of tests, Zubair was evaluated by the Stuttering Severity Tester 4 (SSI-4), a standardized test that examines the frequency, duration and physical concomitants of stuttering during stuttering. He was found to have a “moderate stuttering condition”.
Conventional treatment
According to Hussein, Zubair received speech therapy twice a week for a month. He embraced “fluency shaping” techniques, such as slowing down speech or prolonging syllables. Boys were asked to break down each word into syllables.
He also learned passive airflow techniques to help him moderate the beginning of sentences and maintain fluidity, as well as reduce tongue and lip tension to ease the flow and continuous vocalization from one voice to the next.
gain control
Hussain said: “Master Zubair stopped stuttering after a month of speech therapy. He was in the initial stage of stuttering, and with our intervention, he was able to get rid of it.”
She added: “In developing children, a genetic predisposition to stuttering, combined with environmental factors, may cause their level of influency to increase over time and persist into adulthood. Stuttering usually disappears in adulthood, but It does persist in about 1 to 2 percent of the adult population. There is no cure for stuttering, but speech therapy can be effective in helping people control their speech.”
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