Stuttering (Fluency)

Children and adults may experience stuttering, or difficulty with speech fluency, in a variety of ways for a multitude of reasons. The Eckelmann-Taylor Speech and Hearing Clinic at Illinois State University provides expert care to evaluate and treat persons who are impacted by stuttering.

What is a fluency disorder?

Stuttering is a fluency disorder that is present from childhood and may persist into adulthood. Children and adults who experience stuttering may have disruptions in their flow of speech consisting of; repetitions of sounds, prolongations of sounds, or unusual stoppages or blocks of sounds and syllables. Children and adults who stutter may also show non-verbal characteristics as a result of their stutter, like physical tension and shortness of breath.

Exact etiologies, or causes, of stuttering are unknown. However, stuttering has been found to originate from any combination of genetics, delay in the development of speech and language, neurophysiology, and family dynamics.

Treatment

Treatment for stuttering is a comprehensive process that occurs in an effort to lessen its impact or severity over a person’s life. Fluency-generating techniques, or strategies that help one to produce smooth and less effortful speech, are an important part of the intervention process. Another equally important treatment consideration is a person who stutter’s identification of the disorder. Speech-language pathologists work to target these areas of stuttering in an effort to help a person regain control over his or her stutter.

Assessment and treatment

We offer individualized evaluation and treatment for children and adults who stutter or experience difficulty with speech fluency. Here, clinicians provide services to improve fluency of speech, promote positive self-perceptions, and minimize the overall impact of disfluencies on communication. Speech-language pathologists at Illinois State University aim to help children, teenagers, and adults make significant progress overall towards fluency.