Theories of Stuttering Flashcards
Why is knowledge of theories important?
- for overall knowledge of topic (how it’s previously been studied)
- to answer client questions
- to drive treatment and make treatment decisions
- basis of research and definitions
- rules things out
Why would the ideal theory of stuttering do?
- give us the treatment for the disorder
- identify an exact etiology/should help with IDing disorder
- should assist with assessment and suggest treatment
- explain why a person stutters in some situations and not others
- explain accessory behaviors
Seeking a theory of stuttering
- don’t know the cause
- different focus in different time periods/different ways of thinking
- speech/language theories influence fluency theories
Subdivisions of theory of stuttering
(Bloodstein & Ratner) moment vs. etiology
moment= why is this happening now etiology= why did this begin
can also be discussed as environmental or organic
Johnson’s Diagnosogenic Theory (1940s)
Etiological/Environmental theory
All children have normal disfluencies, child stutters because he is labeled as a PWS
- child becomes self-conscious, tries to speak w/o disfluencies
- negative reactions from listeners + their fluent efforts = stuttering
- response to anxiety and pressures
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Language creates reality- world is built based on language habits of group
Therefore, being told you are a stutterer means that you are a stutterer
Diagnosogenic Theory treatment implications
If you change the environment and don’t acknowledge the stutter you change it
- wrong! most successful treatments acknowledge the stutter
- treatment would be psychological
Theory of Primary and Secondary Stuttering (1932)
Etiological theory
Primary stuttering= speech repetitions the child does not notice and occurs without effort; will disappear is not acknowledged by child
Secondary stuttering= caused when child is told to be careful about their speech and they try to avoid it
No evidence for this theory
Parent-Child Language Theories
Demands and Capacities Model (1990)
Demands and Capacities
Stuttering develops because a child’s capacities for fluency aren’t equal to performance demands
Demands can be internal or external
Types of demands
Motor: parents speak too fast; child doesn’t have capacity to
Language: parents use hard sentences; child feels they have to
Cognitive: child may not believe they are smart; have poor metalinguistic abilities
Social/Emotional: interactions with people, especially emotionally
DCM implications for treatment
- decrease the demands that are too much for the child’s capacities OR
- increase the capacities of child
- very individualized and subjective
- complicated and broad; demands may be endless
Anticipatory Apprehensive Hypertonic Avoidance Reaction
Moment of Stuttering theory
- stuttering = effort to avoid stuttering
- person knows when they will stutter, becomes anxious, becomes tense
(most PWS can anticipate stutters)
Prepatory Set
Moment of Stuttering theory
- PWS anticipates a stutter and places themselves in a physical and psychological set
- treatment would be to change these sets
ex) PWS knows they will stutter on “b” in “ball” and focuses on trying to get past it; then becomes impossible to say it fluently
