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WHAT CAUSES STUT-TERING?
Del2
What scientists know about the causes and strain mixture formation, we may know. We also know that scientists know very little. They have their theories. Professionals say that the cause of stuttering is: HERITAGE, LEARNING FAULTS and SOCIAL CONDITIONS. One theory is that the child inherits a certain sensitivity, which then is expressed in a stuttering behaviour. For, it is probably an interaction of the three factors that is the cause. I will dwell on the latter. The fact is that a child can not choose their parents and the environment it grows up in.
Stuttering begins in the parents' ears
The researcher Mr Wendell Johnson searched for the explanation of why a child starts to stutter. The year was 1934 in Iowa, USA. He wanted to get hold of the stock mixture of reasons to treat it effectively.
The critical parents of stammering children perceived their newly born child's stuttering earlier than other parents. He coined the term "Stammering begins in the parents´ ears.” The problem seemed to occur at the moment when parents realized that the child stuttered. Mr Wendell soon realized that stuttering was more than doubt and being hooked up by the speech. "The phenomenon of stuttering involves not only a speaker and his way of speaking and related emotions, but also to his listeners and how they assess and respond to his way of speaking.”
One can perhaps say - gently - that the marital relationship was marked by more tensions and discontent in the stuttering group than control group parents. Parents who are in any way tense and unhappy are more likely to find faults in their children's way of speaking.
Stuttering begins between 2.5 to 4 years of age. 80% of the children stop stuttering, seven unfortunate children out of the 1000 stutter on up in years, into adulthood. The researcher MS Karen Van Riper says that the best scientific understanding that we possess is that stuttering is caused by an accident which can be avoided.
At the age of three, children repeat words in their zeal and their search for words, but it is not known as stuttering but iteration. A stuttering behaviour can be developed in this stage if the child is aware of it. Probably the child has not received the attention, love and care it demanded. The stuttering is for the child a means of attracting attention. Presumably, there are relational disorders in the family. The child who stutters shows symptoms of these disorders. An older sibling who is jealous can also have adverse effects. The victim is usually a boy. In the past, he had the requirement to become something important. In old Swedish films all male children were to get a good education to become professors. You expected your children to be what the father had not succeeded in being.
Past is taken into adulthood. Speech therapists have begun a better treatment for these children, because they do not fully trust that it will disappear. The Lidcombe program is something new in Sweden.
Under the heading "What does the research say" you can read Per Alm´s theory about how stuttering starts once it is established.
WHAT
IS STUTTERING?
The experts are content to say that stuttering is a disruption of normal flow of speech. All experts can testify to this. Through my studies of the standard alteration, I have learnt that we have got more stammering propensity than non-stuttering, sometimes harder and more complicated, since many are hooked up to so much. When the normal speaking strains, it is usually in emergency situations where control is suddenly released.
A speech problem?
Sometimes I've been in situations where I have spoken fluently but felt compelled to tell that I am a stuttering person. An embarrassing situation since it is hard for the person opposite me to believe in what I am saying. Telling about the stuttering association mechanisms of the state is inconceivable. Despite the fact he should know that I do not always strain and not in all situations. It may indeed be the case that I feel good.
I recorded a video in November 28, 1992 in Lin-köping where Doctor and Researcher of Stuttering Mr Per Alm gave a lecture on stammering. He confirmed that also normal-speaking persons stutter. The only difference is the tendency of stuttering.
Van Riper´s definition of stuttering is that "Stuttering is what makes a speaker not to stammer again.” A good definition which is hard to ignore. The question is what kind of stuttering people it describes?
A "real stuttering"?
Do we have to distinguish between different kinds of stuttering? Is it not enough that the experience is that you stutter or that it is inconvenient, that you have hooking ups repetitive patterns and difficulties in reaching further, or by behaving strangely according to people in your environment. Probably not. I, and now even my wife can make a genuine difference of stuttering and normal speakers who "only" sometimes strain.
A hearing problem?
I've found that stuttering is also a hearing problem. If you have you switched off your hearing when you talk, it is difficult to move on. If you can´t hear what the phonetics call a neutral vowel and can correct it will also cause problems. It is equally important to correct any errors that occur in course of speech. Hearing loss, I think is very important when you talk, coordination must match.
When you speak into the microphone or the "Headset" there is something that happens to your hearing. It is as if it is also boosted with an amplifier. The speech works better. It feels like the speech has a shorter way from idea to wording.
Hearing controls and monitors so that the speech becomes as you intended.
A communication problem?
We must not forget that the recipient is important in a communication situation. How does she regard me as a person? Does she think there is a problem? What kind of relation you have or will have occurs in time. What you say is perhaps the most important thing. You'll be treated accordingly.
According to researcher and stammering finisher Stromsta "is prolongations, blockings and all the other symptoms of stammering responses to the fundamental core stuttering.”
WHO's definition of stuttering is that: "Stuttering is a disorder of the cadence, where the individual knows exactly what to say, but is for the moment unable to say it because of involuntary rehearsal, extension or suspension of a complete sound.”
Per Alm writes: "What is mainly associated with stuttering is repetitions and blockings. Blockings mean that the vocal cords, tongue or lips are clamped too hard and blocks the airflow, which leads to a silent pause.”
Per Alm also writes: "Those who don´t stutter have difficulties in understanding that you sometimes speak fluently the next minute get severe stuttering. The worst thing is that even as a stuttering person it is difficult to know how it works.
I think what makes stutter-bearing particularly frustrating is that you are suffering from "stress-chance.” One can speak just fine and at times YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE FEELING THAT FLUENT SPEECH IS WITHIN REACH - BUT IT DOESN`T WORK AT ALL.”
Children's jealousy
It is not known for sure what makes a child start to stutter. I have been so specific, saying that my parents are to blame that I became a stuttering person. Nobody knows. What if it was my brother's envy that influenced me. It could not have been fun for him that I as a baby was paid a lot of parental attention. It may not have been good for him that I even existed. He was probably in a situation where he must try to take back my parents' attention. It can be assumed that the family entered a state of strife. Moreover we can assume that I replied to stutter when I spoke. My brother was probably not in an easy situation.
What if it could be so complicated that we have been affected by several reasons.
How is stuttering maintained
It seems that stammering might have its advantages. The text above suggests that stuttering has become, if not a weapon, but a tool for the small child to keep all the love and attention that parents give.
Problem reduction is like a coat hanger
The Stockholm Stuttering Association discussed the frequency of the so-called coat hanger effect which means that stuttering is a catalyst, often at the unconscious level.
For decades I have had time to these speculations. I put it in relation to my development, and can not but admit that this is the case. I can describe my situation in this way that I still strain and under the current conditions I believe the stuttering problem is gone. Should conditions change it may look really bad.
First
I am struggling
desperately
with a word
and so the other person steals it. . .
Beppe Wolger´s poem
At school the teacher had asked about Indian rivers, and I'd raised my hand and I was asked. I got up to say Ganges.
G. . . "I said.
For five minutes I struggled to say the Ganges, in different ways,
by holding the breath,
by breathing,
by waiting,
by a sudden surprise word,
by dreaming, pretending I was somewhere else,
by turning a blind eye,
by saying it silently inside me and slowly try to raise my voice;
I tried everything, but the tongue and throat did not want to collaborate and the teacher and the class were silent as death.
Moreover, the stammering, how it comes, stays or possibly disappears is for me still a riddle.
[Beppe Wolgers 1972, My Memoirs 3)
A strange security
When I leave the curb, I can see.
When I am in the middle of the street I might lose my eyesight.
Something like it would be my blindness;
if it were just as unpredictable as my stuttering.
My inability to see is total, permanent and irreversible.
My blindness is reliable and uncompromising.
It promises nothing.
It makes no promises.
It is rough but honest.
My stuttering is partial, intermittent and preliminary.
My stuttering is willing to compromise with me.
It speculates vividly in my fear of it.
It attracts me to unreasonable concessions.
It exploits me ruthlessly.
It is a false and dangerous negotiating partner.
As a stuttering person, I am more a victim of cynical bid slogan.
As a complete blank, I am the victim of relentless uncompromising.
Sometimes it feels as if the latter is to prefer. It almost feels as if there is a sort of security to be blind in comparison with the stuttering person.
Hans Danielsson: Land Beyond the mountains
Stuttering is not just a speech impediment
Earlier we said stutterer. It was as if we each automatically obtained the identity. It could be as strong as the professional role. Are we saying that we are stuttering we will send the signal that's just one piece of ourselves. How important is it we wonder? A large part of our lives are centred round the speech. Sometimes it is pleasurable, sometimes it feels just hard to talk or your speech device is only a necessary device that is as technical tools to carry out other work in life. It can be difficult to distinguish between what belongs to the stuttering and what is life in general. The life we have, we live as good as possible. Trials are on the lookout all the time. Even those who don´t stutter can think that life is complicated.
To be a stammering person for many years affects the body both mentally and physically. The body remembers and store the information to impulses that influence our actions through the autonomic nervous system. "It sits in the spinal cord" is the everyday saying. What has now happened is mentioned as a psychosomatic reaction.
The tongue is tense and will not read my intentions, it sticks to the palate - uncomfortable. There is for sure nothing wrong but the signal from the head was attacked by "doubt" which is a control while the speech activity occurs. This example may illustrate the problem - the psyche is the major culprit. And psyche, we do not like to talk about. But this develops mild disabilities of various kinds.
In most circuits fixing symptoms commonly occur.
Where do I stutter?
We must not overestimate the normal speakers. If they hear us stammer, they believe that we always are stammering. On the other hand they hear us do not stutter, we are no stutterers. The perception of control may then be the treatment we will have. ”Oops, we must start an information campaign” says the stutterer. I know, I launched the largest campaign ever in Sweden. It was conducted in 1978. I was both the instigator and project manager. The summary of this is presented at the end of the book. The question is whether it is so wise today, times have changed; considerateness in society has declined, group thinking is more and more changed to individual thinking. But I guess it doesn´t mean that it has become worse for the stuttering. Loyalty to the group´s membership follow certain changes in society. It is hoped that loss is offset by new opportunities.
When I think someone is critical towards me I stutter
We who stutter do not do it everywhere in all possible situations. At home we do not stutter very often or not at all, definitely not in solitude. Where do I stutter? It is probably when I least expect it, it is enough to hook up at the beginning of a word with a certain letter when I shall say something. The trigger mechanism is a slightly increased stress level, but it can also be when I think someone is critical towards me. But of course there are situations that you know in advance are bad to speak of - it has previously been misfortune too many times for it to go well, so here it is to take everything you can think of as stepping stones over the stuttering related barriers. It is these barriers as speech therapists call secondary symptoms.
Situation Tied
Stuttering is often associated with different situations - meetings with people and it is only human beings who make you stutter. The person's authority is crucial to how you speak. Do you think he also is critical of you or what you are saying you have no chance to avoid stutter. Your security or rather the lack of security controls your speech. Managers are harsh, they want you to do as they say - not what you want. If I feel good when another person tells me what to do, that's fine. If I do not it could be useful to become chief myself.
Interviews
One of the most terrible situations tend to be job interviews. The triggering part of the uncomfortable state is the nature of the situation. You are reviewed and challenged from head to toe, will my list of qualification do, will I do as a human being will I do in the prospective group? Nowadays, companies also want to have "mark-up calves" good enough for me to pursue a career in this business. You must surely not only be good at talking, you should probably be best this is implied for the company's fate to depend upon you. All that you know inside you when you sit in front of its hearing manager, you also know that he has your fate in his hand.
It is important not to forget that it is ONLY with people you stutter. Do you want to change the way you speak, you can ONLY do it with people.
Who strains the worst?
In a majority of different groups, people know that those who have vocal strain more often have the worst stuttering, but there are also consonant strain which can be difficult - imagine him to say words with the beginning of the letter H, he blows out the air , but doesn´t get any H sound. The blocking nature of stuttering, in which the stutterer can´t utter a sound, is the most difficult variant. The repetitive strain is significantly easier to manage. It should be clear that the "hell" may be different for different people.
Who strains the least?
The normal-speaking person stutters the least.
Distraction
It is known that stuttering people for some reason, are seeking various forms of distraction. Some of them are tricks in the form of co-movements which then remain attached despite of the fact that the distraction has stopped to function as snap your fingers, having a stone in your pocket, entered at the right moment and thrown at the right moment, stamp your foot or similar rituals.
A different kind of distraction can be used in some stuttering therapies. To drum drums to get the right rhythm in the starting moment has a positive impact and distraction effect in learning.
The DAF unit has received the Renaissance and again become popular. The device works so that you can hear yourself with delayed tempo of speech. It helps the stuttering person to find the low tempo of speech that is sought. Once the tempo of speech is natural the device tends to become superfluous.
The researcher Per Alm who has a doctorate in stuttering has raised DAF unit effects in his disputation.
Anxiety in stuttering context
"Anxiety is the price we pay for a ticket on the journey of life, without a ticket, no travel, no travel, no life.” James Hollis.
It is interesting to remember that we still carry with us our ancestors' response patterns. It is now rarely triggered by some big and dangerous animals but the response to anxiety is the same. When our ancestors saw the large animal they felt the anxiety until they decided how to proceed. Then they progressed to the work and either they survived or were eaten. By making a decision and then act they did away with both anxiety and anguish of decision. When it was all over the anxiety was gone.
Anxiety is a common phenomenon among mankind. When it becomes unsustainable things start happening. Most are not of the nature that they are seeking help but want to care for themselves. It is common to not really know what is happening in the body - a diffuse anxiety, it isn´t possible to really point to what this is about. On the other hand, if something happened in connection to the turmoil we usually know what it is all about.
Anxiety and anguish can certainly be positive in the sense that it may partly be performance enhancing, and send a signal that it is time to do any kind of change. Negative is when anxiety becomes uneasy and drugs are taken to numb it. Spirit is currently the most widely used drug and is also one of the most effective ones. Then there are those who choose different forms of therapies. If you try hard to scrape on the surface of these you can find out what their problems are and the anxiety is what is the most difficult.
"I am filled with stammering" is a phrase I heard in the context of stuttering. In all probability I interpret this to mean that the person has anxiety, which for a stuttering person can give more than stuttering.
Anxiety can make it difficult for me to speak. Then I have the choice to speak or not to. Do I need to talk despite the anxiety it is either very slow or I strain. In Van Riper´s stuttering equation (page 73) he addresses the anxiety in the numerator, which means a negation.
Pure anxiety of speech
Classic therapy aims to speak more with less stammering. How much and for how long you practice to get rid of stuttering, there is always an imminent danger for stuttering to come back. In addition, if I have given the impression of being a normal speaking person, it can create anxiety and fear at the thought of that I at any time can be revealed to be a stuttering person.
The biggest hurdle is to get the most work in the work-life compatibility.
Accepted thoughts were implanted by Viktor Bloch in Stockholm Stuttering Association, a therapy that he was inspired from in Canada. Instead of that at all costs try to get rid of his stutter, we should accept it. He realized that an important part of the stuttering was fear and anxiety to disclose your stuttering.
The stuttering is only a manifestation of all those emotions that we all have. If I had not stuttered, they certainly proved themselves in any other way.
Another anxiety
You don´t talk so much about that there certainly is a lot of other anxiety under the surface. This anxiety can be obvious when the problem of speech has been reduced. There is something behind that fire that keeps the fire alive - a real anxiety - an anxiety that should be possible to treat by other means than just talk.
To obtain an animal can be a way to reduce your anxiety.
The question then is whether the stutterers would like to have a place to go to in order to remove redundant anxiety?
Victor Bloch says: "We should consider to treat more than the cause of the disease. Here in Europe we tend to say sometimes that stuttering possibly is a symptom of a neurotic disorder, and that, therefore, it is crucial to find and treat far more than the symptom. The answer to this by the Canadians was: ”The stuttering, whether it is a symptom or not, as we know, keeps itself alive (the well-known vicious circle: stammering - anxiety - more stammering - more anxiety.”
Stuttering phenomenon may alternatively have an anxiety-reducing function. That could explain one of the pieces of why it is so difficult to get over it.
Stuttering is masked anxiety - Anxiety is the masked anger
In the active years of the Stuttering Association, I have been involved in countless discussions about stuttering. We talked all the time about intellectual parts of the strain problem - all the time about the core of the problem that could be to distinguish between primary and secondary stuttering. Somehow you didn´t want to know everything.
Anger, what I know of, has only at one single point been discussed in the written context of stuttering. It was thirty years ago. It was the journalist Ulla Henriksson who visited a therapy group including myself at the Karolinska Hospital. She would make a documentary about stammering for a weekly magazine. She was confused over the participants' statements. After a careful analysis of the tapes she suggested, that there was a hidden war going on. The stutterers complained of that it was difficult to get in contact with other people. When she wanted to have contact with the group, none of those present showed any interest. "I will write about stuttering and see to it that there will be a debate on the subject "she said to me, whereupon she trudged off to a publisher. Unfortunately, there was no book because the publisher also thought it was obvious that stuttering was anger. Her definition was: ”STUTTERING IS MASKED ANXIETY, ANXIETY IS MASKED ANGER.
Ulla Henriksson was responsive to the situation because she perceived it differently than the rest of us did. She was used to people behaving differently. Emotions were masked, very few straight lines were spoken up, all the replicas were loaded with thousands of undertones. . . She felt manipulated.
Her anger did not help when she heard the words "They take most of my speech away from me, but they fill me in all the time.” In the end she had to ask "Is that the responsibility of the stutterers on earth to take the language away from me while I can not take it away from them?" I learned not to interrupt, which I always do spontaneously.
Nothing wrong with the speech
Ulla came to the conclusion that it was failing communication. Most stutterers complain about problems in contacts and loneliness. I do not know whether we stutterers reacted very much on this. We were quite hardened enough for words. We heard people talking around us every day. We were probably trapped in ourselves. Once trapped in this the stage out was wide. She actually asked the question "Do you stutter with your ears, too?"
You get contact with other people through their communications. But all stutterers are completely fixated on the speech as the only means of communication. Ulla Henriksson said that there are many more opportunities for communication - you can write, mime, you can learn sign language and body language.
What is it that I can say to you emotionally speaking?
Emotions are the only possibility for communication if you want a deeper contact with another human being.
Kick therapists - and grow!
I think you should throw away all the damned electrostatic electrodes that one put in your face, break the tape player and kick the therapists out of the window. If you want to work with yourself do it through the two-sided communication.
Take responsibility for yourself and your life.
You have not come into the world with the task of keeping your fellow human beings in a good mood and be responsible for their happiness. Let them take care of themselves. If you see to it that you grow you will become an inexhaustible well, you do not even have to make any effort to give anything to others .Make sure you feel good.
As a whirlwind Ulla Henriksson came into the stuttering movement. Your articles, dear Ulla, shook on us. No one was unmoved. You were both loved and hated. We are a few who remember you yet.
PS. The crowd could hear the voice:”Kick the therapists out in town along with the stutterers.”
Extreme anxiety
Possessed of a life of luxury. The 22-year-old woman embezelled $ 300,000.
"My anxiety needed a valve. Suddenly, the money was just here in front of me. Expressen 11 Jan 2007.
Pyromaniac sets a house on fire - and reduces anxiety.
Anxiety for repentance. When you bought the wrong car, you happened to buy a motorboat that was leaky, in general everything that is bought and sold, where the question is asked "Why did I do that?,” "How could I be so stupid?"
These feelings are strongest after some rest. After a period of pain, life always has a tendency to move on but with one more experience behind.
Iceberg Parable
It is pointed out that the visible part of the strain problem, like the visible part of the iceberg, only is a small part of the whole problem.
It is as if there exists a hidden behaviour in the shape of false roles, tricks, fear, avoidance, and guilt-feelings. This hidden part of the problem you try to bring to the surface in therapy by talking openly about stuttering and the feelings that are associated with stuttering.
If you feel that you have feelings of guilt it is perhaps not surprising if this triggers off the stammering.
There are stuttering people in Sweden who question the Iceberg parable.
Stuttering equation that can be discussed
Every letter of the Van Riper equation should be studied carefully. What does this example mean to you? One way is to do it in a study circle. It appears that much of the stuttering complex is housed here:
Examine yourself
This stuttering formula I have been aware of for at least 30 years. I've had it in the club's information meetings and it was nice to be able to present a formula on a blackboard and then move on. But we are never told what it really stands for. Here you have to stop. What should I do to minimize the anxiety I have. What can I delete or change for me to get a better life without fear? To have anxiety, I believe is a state of feeling bad. You have to find your place in life and where the right proportions are or what I would call "Be a little less vigorous."
(POAGA) + (Ws, Fs) + Ss
Stuttering = -----------------------------------
Fs + Cb
P = Punishment, O = Obstruction and the experience of it, "vain feeling,” A = Anxiety, G = Guilt and shame, A = Aggression. Ws = Word and Sound fear, Fs = Fear of the situation Ss =Speech stress, Fs = Fluent speech, Cb = Confidence and battle inclination.
Fluent speech and self-esteem is apparently what counts for having success.
What Van Riper describes in his stuttering formula is for me a real stuttering person. But it might as well be a normal speaking person.
Everyone knows or think they know what fluent speech and self-esteem is. My experience of the normal speakers is that they do not have self -confidence. Could it possibly be because of the Swedish law "Jante" - we are all subdued. Is it not strange that we who stutter should seek a quality that there is so little of, as well as self-esteem. I must bow to the conventional. Another definition that is distinctive and that I like reading is "Self-confidence is based on performance.” It should not be confused with "Self-esteem, which is about one's own value, no matter what you perform.” Without self-esteem, it is easy to seek confirmation from the outside in, rather than strengthen yourself.
My interpretation of the definition of the numerator:
[P]Punishment means that the stuttering person is strongly influenced by the punishment. Probably it can be enough of a hint of punishment for stuttering to break out. [O] Obstruction – vain feeling. (Now I know why I do not like to make things unnecessarily.) [A] Anxiety is a diffuse anguish [G] Guilt is uncomfortable. How often haven´t we felt this during work? In my working life I have often felt that I have not achieved what has been expected from me. This guilt feeling has occurred even though I think I have done a good job and performed very well. Confirmation of that something is well done is that negative criticism fails. It seems as if you interpret guilt and feelings of guilt differently. They can manifest themselves when you have done something wrong, but they can also occur when one has not done anything wrong. It is like "back is never free.” Relations between parent and child can be characterized by feelings of guilt. Feelings of shame, however for me are only related to my stuttering. [A] Aggressiveness means that we stutter. I guess it's because we who stutter are inexperienced and cannot handle it very well. How often have I not heard that the stutterers are inhibited? The normal speakers can feel a sense of relief at the venting of aggression. It is a normal part of the normal speaker's life but is for the stutterer very perilous. Attitudes here are completely different. If the stutterer gets incredibly angry and dare to let out his anger he doesn´t stutter. [Fw] Fear of words I suppose Van Riper says - fear and stuttering in a meaningful initial syllables. [Sf] Situational fear is going into a situation of poor conditions. [Ss] Stress of speech is often the trigger of stuttering.
My experience is that when the stutterer gets very angry and dare to unleash his anger he doesn´t stutter. It's like an airplane, with too little momentum the plane does not lift.
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