Understanding Stammering Or Stuttering

Parents and teachers of children who stammer (or stutter) may see their child suffering with embarrassment, frustration or anxiety but feel at a loss as to how best to help. This book explains the characteristics of stammering and uses illuminating first-hand accounts to demonstrate the common feelings of anguish experienced and provide clarity on what the child is likely to need in terms of support at home, school and in social situations. Packed with helpful advice for carers about how to build a child's confidence, it presents a variety of techniques and tips to alleviate the stammer and improve self-esteem and school performance. This accessible resource will shed light on the perplexing nature of stammers, enabling those who care for children affected to find answers and get the best possible help.

Stuttering is an affliction that affects every ethnicity and every culture equally, some sixty million people worldwide. Five percent of children stutter. Typically, this debilitating condition emerges when a child is between the ages of two and six. Twenty percent of these children will continue to stutter as adults. Although it is so pervasive, there is great misunderstanding about stuttering. Socially isolating the people it strikes, the disorder prevents them from the kind of candid discussions that would help them gain an understanding of it. In turn, social isolation creates misconceptions. In Understanding Stuttering a writer, who is both a practicing physician and former researcher on stuttering, examines the medical roots of the problem and, hoping to bring alleviation, shares his findings. He defines stuttering as a medical condition that is neurologically based or inherited. In clear language he explains the basics of brain anatomy and function, tells of the latest scientific advances in diagnosis and treatment of stuttering, and explains the difference in acquired stuttering and Tourette syndrome. Using examples from his practice, he details effective treatments, including speech therapy and medications. He discusses the most promising new research and tells how the findings of this research will improve treatments and provide a possible cure. Understanding Stuttering concludes with practical tips on how to converse with those who stutter and lists organizations that provide additional information and support.

This is a new release of the original 1953 edition.

Malcolm Fraser knew from personal experience what the person who stutters is up against. His introduction to stuttering corrective procedures first came at the age of fifteen under the direction of Frederick Martin, M.D., who at that time was Superintendent of Speech Correction for the New York City schools. A few years later, he worked with J. Stanley Smith, L.L.D., a stutterer and philanthropist, who, for altruistic reasons, founded the Kingsley Clubs in Philadelphia and New York that were named after the English author, Charles Kingsley, who also stuttered. The Kingsley Clubs were small groups of adult stutterers who met one night a week to try out treatment ideas then in effect. In fact, they were actually practicing group therapy as they talked about their experiences and exchanged ideas. This exchange gave each of the members a better understanding of the problem. The founder often led the discussions at both clubs. In 1928 Malcolm Fraser joined his older brother Carlyle who founded the NAPA-Genuine Parts Company that year in Atlanta, Georgia. He became an important leader in the company and was particularly outstanding in training others for leadership roles. In 1947, with a successful career under way, he founded the Stuttering Foundation of America. In subsequent years, he added generously to the endowment so that at the present time, endowment income covers over fifty percent of the operating budget. In 1984, Malcolm Fraser received the fourth annual National Council on Communicative Disorders' Distinguished Service Award. The NCCD, a council of 32 national organizations, recognized the Foundation's efforts in "adding to stutterers', parents', clinicians', and the public's awareness and ability to deal constructively with stuttering." Book jacket.

Explains the characteristics and psychological affects of stuttering and helps adults learn how to build the child's confidence and alleviate the stammer. Original.

Stuttering and Cluttering provides a comprehensive overview of both theoretical and treatment aspects of disorders of fluency: stuttering (also known as stammering) and the lesser-known cluttering. The book demonstrates how treatment strategies relate to the various theories as to why stuttering and cluttering arise, and how they develop. Uniquely, it outlines the major approaches to treatment alongside alternative methods, including drug treatment and recent auditory feedback procedures. Part one looks at different perspectives on causation and development, emphasizing that in many cases these apparently different approaches are inextricably intertwined. Part two covers the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of stuttering and cluttering. In addition to chapters on established approaches, there are sections on alternative therapies, including drug therapy, and auditory feedback, together with a chapter on counselling. Reference is made to a number of established treatment programs, but the focus is on the more detailed description of specific landmark approaches. These provide a framework from which the reader may not only understand others’ treatment procedures, but also a perspective from which they can develop their own. Offering a clear, accessible and comprehensive account of both the theoretical underpinning of stammering therapy and its practical implications, the book will be of interest to speech language therapy students, as well as qualified therapists, psychologists, and to those who stutter and clutter.