Theories of Stuttering

Question 1

Freud (1900-1940s)

Answer 1

Neurotic disorder
personality disturbance
Competing desires to talk and also to remain silent (anxiety)
Stuttering as a fault/flaw in person- someone is to blame.
Was unable to treat it & stopped addressing it

Question 2

Orton & Travis (1920s)

Answer 2

Cerebral Dominance Theory
Lack of central synchronization- one dominant hemisphere resulting in poor communication between the two sides
Disruption of flow of paired muscles
Powerful side imposed timing- organic/physical
Possibly due to left handers being forced to use right hand
Lack of cerebral processing on one side
Doesn’t hold water since it only effects speech

Question 3

Wendell Johnson (1930s)

Answer 3

Someone is to blame
Stuttering is in the ear of the listener
Due to mother criticizing normal disfluencies
“The Monster Study” (Mary Tudor- grad student)- believed that you could cause children to stutter- criticized children stopped talking ut did not stutter. Johnson destroyed his career over this study.

Question 4

Van Riper (1940s-present)

Answer 4

Did not develop the Iowa Theory
Stuttering Modification (students of Travis and Orton) at the height 40s-60s)
2 main goals: 1) reduce feelings of shame and anxiety- Desensitization 2) teach the person who stutters to modify stutter- to stutter more easily, reduce tension.
Make stuttering easier to produce
supported by NSA, goal to accept the stutter

Question 5

What are the 5 Stuttering Modification techniques?

Answer 5

1. Cancellation- go back after and say more “easily”(Practice makes permanent)
2. Pullout- stop mid stutter and start over that word/sound more “easily”
3. Bounce- using a different type of stutter to keep air flow moving (bounce- easy repetition of stuttered syllable)
4. Prepatory Sets- acknowledge feelings of stutter coming on, release tension before stutter even begins. Tension comes through anticipation.
5. Fake/Voluntary Stuttering- desensitization, stuttering on purpose. Letting go of the fear that you are going to stutter.

Question 6

Describe Fluency Shaping (1960s-present)

Answer 6

Wingate, Webster, Packman…
Goal: Fluency, to remove the stutter
-more physical train of thought. Practicing fluency over and over.
Behavioral approach- reward/punishment
-using % in assessment
-Boberg and Kelly published in the 90s but did not invent FS.

Question 7

How is Fluency Shaping therapy typically delivered?

Answer 7

INTENSIVE program (over the summer, live-in)
Repetition, repetition, repetition…
Therappy needs to be hard and fast and must be successful from the beginning
-if in a school, meet every day for the first few weeks
-Stutter will return, they will need “tune-ups”

Question 8

What are Boberg and Kelly’s 8 Phases of Fluency Shaping?

Answer 8

1. Baseline established (% disfluent)
2. ID of stuttering patterns
3. Teach fluency shaping techniques
4. Short utterances
5. Mastery of connected speech
6. Normalize rate
7. Self-monitoring
8. Transfer/carry-over

Question 9

What are the 5 Fluency Shaping techniques?

Answer 9

1. Easy onset- vowels (glottal stop, slight release of air)
2. Soft contact- tongue not making firm contact
3. Continuous phonation- do not allow air to stop
4. Short phrases- so you can keep replenishing the air without halting speech low
5. Slowed rate- drawing out the vowels

Question 10

What is DAF?

Answer 10

Delayed Auditory Feedback- speaker does not hear themselves until after they have spoken (timing adjustable), over time a stutterer will habituate to it and the stutter will return. Can be used on a limited basis as a tool.
Can cause a fluent person to stutter as well.

Question 11

Give examples of situations during which a stuttering person might not stutter?

ie- doing something different

Answer 11

Singing
Whispering
Chorus reading
Speaking to an animal/infant
Speaking and writing at the same time
Rhythmic movement
Speaking in an accent
Talking to yourself
Reading aloud alone
Imitating a person
Swearing
Memorization