Topic > Essay on disfluency and communication - 1512

Dysfluency is a speech and language disorder characterized by interruptions in the natural flow of speech, such as repetitions of entire or partial words, prolongations or complete blocks of sounds. The literature of Kehoe (2001), Kalinowski, and Saltuklaroglu (2006) succinctly describes disfluency as an involuntary disorder in which the individual uses speech muscles in such a way that makes speech difficult or impossible. The blocks, repetitions and prolongations associated with disfluency can also be accompanied by secondary behaviors, also known as avoidance behaviors. These so-called behaviors include facial grimacing, winking, tics, tremors of the face and lips, or clenching of the fists, but they may present differently among individuals and in fact some people with dysfluency may not exhibit secondary behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2000 ). It is estimated that between 4 and 5% of the population have suffered from dysfluency for periods exceeding six months at some point in their lives and, as a result, several treatment programs have been developed to address dysfluency. Approaches will differ for each program as some may focus on controlling stuttering-related behavior and focus on helping people with dysfluency develop more positive attitudes towards communication. Other ways to provide intervention for dysfluency include having speech-language pathologists (SLTs) teach people with dysfluency to control and monitor their speech rate and breathing. Speech-language pathologists often involve the family in treatment, particularly in areas of pediatric dysfluency, and one such approach is parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) developed by Lena Rustin (1991). .....the efficiency of PCIT in a multitude of different clinical environments (Matthews, Williams, et al, 1997; Millard, Nicholas et al, 2008). These studies decreased the risk of other factors influencing fluency improvement because they incorporated participants who had been dysfluent for more than twelve months in an attempt to reduce the likelihood that any fluency improvement might be attributable to spontaneous recovery. The single-subject designs and analyzes employed in these studies elicit strong evidence that changes in these individuals' fluency were attributable to the administration of PCIT. Although the above evidence supports the efficiency of using PCIT as a therapeutic approach for children with dysfluency, we must remember that it is impossible to accurately predict the prognosis of any individual child (Bernstein Ratner, 1997).