Friday 1 June 2012

Speech and Language: Etiology



         Etiology, Language
                  •ENVIRONMENTAL
                  •lack of family interaction
                  •disruptions in early social interactions
                  •BIOLOGICAL
                  •children - head injuries, disease (encephalitis)
                  •Adults - stroke




       Etiology, Speech
ENVIRONMENTAL
Bullying exacerbating stuttering

BIOLOGICAL
developmentally structured inadequacies
physical injury or disease
hearing impairments
damage to nervous system

4 comments:

  1. I am thinking of my father-in-law, who was left-handed and had a stutter. He was made to write with his right hand as a child and the stutter worsened after that. Is there a link between this and the stutter - is it an environmental factor?

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    Replies
    1. Stuttering definitely has both biological and environmental etiology. Stuttering is more accurately identified as a speech disorder. It fits under the category of dysfluency which means that the flow of speech is interrupted. The latest research tells us that stuttering has a strong genetic base as well as biochemical and physiological indicators. Most very young children stutter which is considered normal until about the age of 3 years. After that, the child who stutters is said to have primary stuttering characterized by breaks in speech caused by repetitions of syllables and sounds. However, stuttering can become more pronounced with environmental pressures from peers and adults. Secondary stuttering is non-fluent speech accompanied by facial grimaces, muscle tension and eye blinking. If you have seen the film, The King's Speech, that is an example of secondary stuttering.

      The fact that your father in law was left handed likely increased the pressure that he felt to 'straighten up' and do better. It was likely a relentless history of correction and embarrassment for both conditions. Interestingly, being left handed is also considered to be a genetic condition often shown in people with great strength in the logical, mathematical part of the brain (and weakness in the language centre).

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  2. I just recently watched the King's speech and it came up about left handedness. A very interesting movie to say the least. I went online after and was looking at reviews. The one that stuck in my head is by a gentleman named Leys Geddes. He does his reviews via youtube under the heading of speakingout2. He has a stutter (dysfluency) that is amazingly controlled. Please if you get a chance look him up.

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  3. Thanks for the recommendation Alison. I am going to search for Leys Geddes post right now.

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