Announcing 'Stammering Research' - Stammering Research - UCL

Stammering Research. Vol. 1.
in such a way that this information is meant to influence how they view us. In the society we have
evolved, any blemish or disability is best concealed.
Coping with these social pressures is often more of a problem to those who stammer than the
difficulty itself. Robert suggests in the interview: ‘People are uncomfortable about conversing with
someone who has problems. Everyone ends up feeling embarrassed’. We are required to confront
ourselves with thorny questions of social expectation if we are to be competent in communicative
exchanges. People who stammer have to realize that what they offer others is merely an interpretation.
Successful therapy must focus on issues of social expectation and help clients become effective
interactants with others in spite of stammering responses that might occur in exchanges with them.
Society, too, must become more informed about communication and know how to respond helpfully to
those who display difficulties. Good communicators are aware of the needs of others and how to
interact successfully with any individual. That many of us fail suggests we all have communication
problems. For this reason, the data points a need for more research on social interaction in people who
stammer so that this aspect becomes targeted in therapy. Intervention needs to focus more on both
formal and informal social activities to build awareness and expertise of how to handle situations.
Brain activity
An emerging body of literature, mentioned in the introduction, resulting from brain scanning
techniques, increasingly supports impaired cortical connectivity which might underlie timing
disturbances between frontal and central brain regions (Sommer et al.. 2002). It also accounts for the
variability factor, which is the key to understanding the stammering phenomenon. Feelings and
emotions fluctuate, sometimes for no apparent reason, and therefore provide a possible rationale for
changes in the fluency/non-fluency pattern. If this is the case, it becomes clear that a ‘cure’ for
stammering is presently unlikely, although proposed surgical interventions of Fox (1996) and his
associates hope to achieve this. The presence of affected family members, as in Paul’s case, in the
interviews, suggests a genetic influence and Professor Webster of Brock University, reports an
incidence of two-thirds from his own research. It is unlikely that stammering is inherited in a simple
fashion. Currently, a multifactorial model is proposed but we do not know whether a certain genotype
leads to dysfluency or only represents a risk factor with other environmental factors necessary for its
development.
However, the above explanation of brain activity does suggest it is possible to control its function
successfully. Management would have two elements:
1.Reducing right brain activities by which in turn mean less interference with the left hemisphere
supplementary motor area.
2. Counteracting the inefficiency of the left hemisphere by controlling speech motor movements by
slowing down and simplifying utterances to bring them within the capability of the system. Delayed
auditory feedback and frequency-shifted feedback have helped speech control, suggesting the
development of prosthetic aids for stammering (Howell, 2004).
Thus, not only is the brain the origin of behaviour, but behaviour is the origin of brain function.
Therefore, although thinking results from brain exertion, thinking itself affects it. In a similar way, not
only do our feelings and emotions emerge from the activity of our brains, they also change its operation.
Following on from this, when we consciously manage speech movements, by regulating their speed,
controlling breathing and voice, the left-brain activity is, in effect, checked. Similarly, when we reduce
fear and anxiety by either differential relaxation, meditation, hypnotherapy or positive self-talk, our
right brain is adjusted. Thus, techniques that alter and control negative emotions and regulate speech,
impact on our brains by balancing hemisphere activity. Although, there may be a propensity to operate
in a way that results in stammering, it is suggested that this may be overcome, to a large extent, through
voluntary control methods, although Paul reports that this is ‘very demanding and often a discouraging
process, needing immense and continuous effort’.
According to the current view, the first task of therapists is to help a person believe that they can
speak fluently and then show them how they can achieve this through an alteration in the way they
speak. This is followed through with a range of opportunities to develop communication skills and
control techniques. Underpinning this sequence of management is the understanding of how each
person thinks and operates which affects how the messages and methods are constructed to suit each
client’s mental schema.
Although, this theory of right-brain interference with left-brain speech action suggests control
management, the resulting pattern of speaking is very different to the norm. In a contrived, easy
situation where a person does not feel the stress of communicating in a weird new wonderful way,
fluency may come easily. However, in the hurly burly of everyday situations where there is tremendous
pressure to conform to the speaking format used by others, the use of controlled techniques generates
immense stress that is likely to send the right-brain activity soaring sky-high! The net result is a
canceling out between enhancing the capacity of the left-brain to resist interference and perpetuating it.
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