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