A complex set of behaviours that may involve repeating sounds, syllables or words, prolonging sounds, blocking or hesitating, and avoiding or substituting words is‘Stuttering’. It is a speech disorder in which pronunciation of the (usually) first letter or syllable of a word is repeated involuntarily.Stuttering is an involuntary process which hinders normal communication Although there are some self-help techniques which can be taught, and which help some affected people, the person stuttering cannot stop the process, and anxiousness or nervousness often escalates the problem. Over words or syllables the term stammering is used to mean the stumbling and hesitation while the term stuttering is used for the repetitious speech described above in British English.
One of the most astounding facts about stuttering is that any one person’s stutter appears to be different from any other person’s stutter. One person would stutter only on certain words, another would stutter more severely. The person who does not stutter very much will probably have periods when he stutters often, whereas the severe stutterer may experience periods when he stutters noticeably less. Some people stutter when they are talking but not when they are reading aloud; others stutter both when speaking and reading. Some would repeat certain sounds (usually initial sounds) several times, or prolong certain sounds before the word is said. Others may experience complete “blocks” when no sound is coming out at all. During these blocks, some may exhale strenuously and voicelessly, without being able to overcome the block.
Apart from these apparent differences between stutterers, there are often several other features added to the speech production. These may consist of gestures or movements of various kinds, such as jerking the head or throwing it backwards or forwards, clenching the fists, twisting or stamping a foot, slapping the knee with the hand, licking the lips, nasal snorts or sniffs, closing the eyes, et cetera. It is especially such oddities as these, which people find irritating when listening to a stutterer and which cause the most embarrassment to the stutterer himself.
