Stuttering in adults: causes, how to correct and treatment

Stuttering is a speech disorder in which a person involuntarily often repeats individual sounds, syllables and even words, sometimes lengthening them. Speech becomes fragmentary and difficult to distinguish. It takes a lot of effort for a person to utter even a short phrase. Another name for the disorder is logoneurosis. The disorder is less common in adults than in children.

How and why does stuttering occur?

The mechanism of stuttering is still not fully understood. In the literature it is described as follows.

For a number of reasons, Broca's speech center becomes excited and begins to work faster than usual. As a result, the speech circle opens. This means that the connection between the centers where speech is formed is disrupted.
Overexcitation is transmitted to other areas of the cerebral cortex responsible for motor activity.
As a result, the muscles of the speech organs (tongue, lips) cramp. Sometimes the spasm affects not only the pronunciation muscles, but also the respiratory muscles.
Then the work of Broca's center returns to normal, and the speech circle closes again.

In most cases, difficulties arise with the pronunciation of consonant sounds, as they require more effort. The hardest part for a person is the beginning or middle of a phrase. Sometimes a cramp reduces not only the speech muscles, but also the muscles of the arms, legs, and face. Men are most susceptible to the appearance of logoneurosis, since their left hemisphere, where Broca's center is located, is usually less developed than in women. Also, stuttering usually manifests itself in people whose blood relatives suffer from the same disorder. If speech centers are weak from birth, then any unfavorable factors can easily disrupt their work.

Experts identify the following reasons for the development of logoneurosis:

Severe stress - loss of loved ones, emergency, natural disasters, accidents, military operations, constant scandals at home. Due to emotional overload, disturbances occur in the coordinated functioning of the muscles that are responsible for sound pronunciation.
Diseases of the central nervous system - this can include skull injuries, severe infections affecting the brain, previous strokes, any neoplasms that put pressure on the speech centers. All this interferes with the normal transmission of impulses from the brain along nerve fibers to the muscles.

In the latter case, logoneurosis has nothing to do with emotions. In other words, a person stutters even if he is in a calm environment.

These reasons in themselves do not lead to stuttering. In essence, they are triggers. Whether a person starts to stutter or not depends largely on the state of the central nervous system. If she is strong and relatively healthy, then this will not happen. If the central nervous system is weakened, then stuttering is likely to develop.

Features of the pathology

The difficulty in treating stuttering also lies in the fact that this pathology has a large number of forms. This heterogeneity indicates the complexity of the origins of stuttering. This speech disorder is often accompanied by disturbances in the functioning of the muscular system. A stutterer may experience general tension, be stiff and angular, or, conversely, be overly mobile.

People who stutter also have common psychological characteristics:

Excessive impressionability.
In the presence of strangers, excessive timidity and embarrassment.
Vivid fantasy that influences the strengthening of speech defects.
Weakened strong-willed side of character.
Fear of having to speak in front of large numbers of people.

As a rule, all stutterers focus heavily on their defect. And the more a person expects a stuttering attack, the stronger it becomes.

In adults, stuttering is often accompanied by psychological problems. This defect makes their life very difficult. Many stutterers cannot get a good job, career growth is not available to them, and they are unable to build relationships with the opposite sex. All this leads to the fact that a stuttering person becomes even more withdrawn. He experiences a feeling of loneliness, against the background of which nephrosis, depression and other mental disorders can develop.

Based on the causes of its occurrence, stuttering is divided into two types.

A speech disorder that occurs at an early age (from 2 to 5 years) is called developmental It can develop gradually, or occur suddenly as a result of individual predisposition or mental trauma. Evolutionary stuttering is usually called neurotic (logoneurosis) and neurosis-like.

The second type of stuttering is secondary or symptomatic . This speech pathology occurs against the background of other diseases, for example, head injury, epilepsy, etc.

How does stuttering manifest itself?

Based on the shape of the seizures, three forms of stuttering are distinguished:

clonic - it is characterized by involuntary repetition of individual sounds and syllables, as short spasms follow one after another;
tonic – characterized by speech delay, as the muscles contract strongly for a long time;
mixed - a combination of both forms of logoneurosis.

Logoneurosis can occur in three variants:

constant - a person stutters in any environment, with any form of speech;
wavy - it appears and disappears depending on the situation and the person’s condition;
recurrent – stuttering may disappear for a long time, but under the influence of unfavorable factors it appears again.

Experts also distinguish clinical forms of stuttering - neurotic and neurosis-like . They develop for different reasons and in different ways. Let's look at each of them in more detail.

The neurotic form responds well to treatment, since the speech function itself is impaired, and the brain structures are healthy. Stuttering occurs mainly due to acute or chronic stress. Most people develop logophobia, that is, an obsessive fear of speech situations. A person begins to stutter as soon as he thinks about the need to communicate or about failures associated with speech. Such people often feel rejected; they prefer to keep live contact to a minimum.

The neurosis-like form does not depend on the situation, since stuttering is associated with structural damage to the brain. Logoneurosis is often accompanied by convulsions of the whole body, for example, frequent nodding of the head, movements of the fingers, swaying of the body. A person quickly gets tired during a conversation, his answers become monosyllabic. Memory deterioration, fatigue, and decreased attention are also observed.

Treatment options

In modern speech therapy, defectology and psychiatry, methods developed in the last century by Soviet specialists are used in the treatment of stuttering.

There are several methods, but they do not have fundamental differences. When working with children, a set of pedagogical and speech therapy techniques is usually used. But when treating adults, more attention is paid to the psychological component of the problem using psychotherapeutic and medicinal methods.

Traditional stuttering correction methods usually consist of several stages, each of which requires careful work on the previous one:

Preparation. Over the course of 2 or 3 days, the patient undergoes diagnostics. He is examined by doctors of various specializations, as well as a speech therapist.
Installation. Once the patient's condition has been assessed, speech therapy is offered. Group therapy is often used at this stage. People who stutter and have had success in the fight against their illness are invited to the meeting. They share their experience, giving other stutterers incentive to work on themselves.
Silence. Limiting speech communication is an important step in the correction of all types of stuttering. The patient should not speak for about 5 days, after which a period of moderate speech rest begins. At this stage, the stutterer learns the techniques of reflected and conjugate speech, actively engages in articulatory gymnastics, and performs speech breathing exercises.
Restructuring speech skills. This is the longest stage and can last about four weeks. We can say that during this time a person must literally learn to speak again. He will have to prepare conversations on the proposed topics, retell texts, work on dialogues, etc.
Consolidation of results. The acquired skills must be brought to automaticity.

Quite often the treatment ends with some kind of meeting or theme evening. All patients must prepare a performance, they can read poetry, participate in theatrical performances, etc. This is necessary not only to demonstrate success in treatment. In this way, you can get rid of the fear of speaking in public and build confidence in your own abilities.

Participation in school plays helped Bruce Willis get rid of his stuttering. He began stuttering in his teens, after his parents divorced and he entered high school. By working on himself, Bruce was able to become the president of the student council, and much later, become a world-famous actor.

Which specialist should I contact?

As mentioned above, stuttering is caused by a number of reasons, and therefore the approach to treatment must be comprehensive.

A neurologist evaluates the state of the central nervous system and treats diagnosed disorders.
A psychologist helps to cope with emotional turmoil, overcome fear of communication, and correct character weaknesses.
The speech therapist teaches you how to breathe correctly, control your voice, and conduct a smooth and rhythmic conversation.

Acupuncture procedures that have a positive effect on brain function, sessions with a psychotherapist and a physical therapy instructor will also be useful.

However, the most important thing in the treatment of stuttering is motivation, since the duration of the course is several weeks. The exercises are based on repeated repetition of the same actions, constantly overcoming the fear of communication. Efficiency directly depends on the efforts and desires of the patient himself.

Publication date: 04/13/2021. Last modified: 11/19/2021.

Complications of the disorder

Possible consequences include:

Difficulties in communication.
Problems in personal life and professional activities.
Difficulties in finding a job, getting an education.
General delay in intellectual and emotional development.
Development of an inferiority complex.
Formation of strong and difficult to eliminate phobias. This is also possible.

And this is only part of the complications. Therefore, it is worth starting treatment as early as possible.

Symptoms of the pathological process

The clinical picture depends on the individual case. But in general, the same manifestations are always present. Plus or minus. Among them:

Breathing disorders

Inhalations become frequent. The reason is that a person takes in a lot of air. This has to be done because the person who stutters has a huge consumption of air. This is due to the peculiarities of pronunciation. Inhalation is usually noisy. Gradually, a person begins to pronounce speech structures both while exhaling and inhaling. This is a kind of compensatory mechanism to correct a functional problem.

Hoarseness of voice, wheezing

The reason is that the glottis sharply spasms. This occurs especially often in the tonic variety of the pathological process. Hoarseness is observed as a temporary phenomenon. As soon as the tone of the local muscles is restored, the voice also returns to normal. Changes are observed in the acute period.

Looping on the same sound

Occurs in clonic form of stuttering. A person repeats the same sound. Usually - consonant. He cannot switch to another, no matter how much he wants, because repeated contraction of the same group of articulatory muscles develops. Then the condition disappears, then it recovers again. And so on in a circle.

Abrupt stop in the speaking process

Develops against the background of the tonic form of the pathological condition. There is a sharp spasm of facial muscles, structures of the tongue, cheeks, lips, and palate. All tissues and organs that are involved in speech. The articulatory apparatus “jams.” It remains to wait for the symptom to resolve itself. Then everything fades away. And then it repeats again.

Objectively, disturbances of normal articulation are noted

Only a qualified speech therapist can detect this symptom. It is impossible to detect the problem on your own.

Shyness, timidity

As a consequence of the public, social component of stuttering. The person becomes fearful, afraid to communicate, and avoids people. This can go on indefinitely. In the absence of treatment, it very soon results in reclusion.

Phobias. It comes to the point of being afraid to speak due to a pronounced defect.
Tendency to social isolation

Inability to communicate even with a strong desire. A person tries to isolate himself from the world, is not confident in himself, is afraid of society and people. This condition needs to be treated as quickly as possible. A psychotherapist will help.

Embedding extra sounds into words and sentences

This is the so-called embolophrasia. What degree of stuttering is associated with embolophrasia? It develops as a compensatory mechanism, starting from the second stage of the pathological process. A person composes extra sounds as passing structures. To make it easier to move from one articulatory position to another.

Stuttering is accompanied by typical symptoms. It is impossible not to notice him.

Phases of pathology development

Phase I

Stuttering with short episodes, shortening the period of smooth speech regularity. Characterized by the following symptoms:

Difficulty in pronunciation at the beginning of a word and when constructing a sentence.
Stumbling in speech occurs in the pronunciation of short parts of speech, conjunctions and particles.
Stuttering occurs as a result of “Communicative pressure” (excitement, a person is in a hurry to say something, etc.).
There is no speech phobia observed.

II phase

A chronic form of pathology appears.
Pronunciation is difficult when speaking quickly and in complex word combinations.
Awareness of a speech defect, but this does not interfere with normal communication.

III phase

Obvious convulsive syndrome. But the person does not yet perceive this as a problem.
Some sounds and syllables cannot be pronounced.
Speech inhibition, as attempts begin to replace some words with others that are less problematic.

IV phase

Stuttering develops into a major personal problem. The person understands that he has serious speech impairments and avoids contacts and difficult situations where communication is required. If at earlier stages words and expressions sometimes changed, now this happens all the time.
Anticipation - a person waits for his speech errors.
Chronic problem in pronouncing words. Development of fear of communication.

If a child stutters - recommendations

If a child in your family begins to stutter, help him by following these tips:

Talk to him slowly, almost syllable by syllable, calmly pronouncing the words.
Do not pull back or interrupt your child if he is excitedly trying to tell you something. Holding his hands will help him calm down and continue speaking at a normal pace.
Read good fairy tales, retell them, discuss the plots, ask and answer questions. In a home environment with close, loving people, it will be psychologically easier for the child to cope with the problem.
Be careful about his feelings. If he doesn't feel comfortable talking in a certain situation, don't force him.
Create a calm, friendly atmosphere at home. It is unacceptable to tease, imitate stuttering, or be dismissive.
Teach your child to work conscientiously and not miss speech correction classes in order to stop stuttering.