STUTTERING AND CLUTTERING THERAPY
Julie is our specialised Stuttering Therapist. She studied for a postgraduate degree (ESS) and followed countless courses and workshops on stuttering and cluttering.
In a nutshell, stuttering (or stammering) is disfluency in speech characterised by repetitions, prolongations, and/or blockages. At these times, someone who stutters briefly loses control over their speech. Unpleasant experiences and reactions to stuttering can lead to negative associations with stuttering over time. These can then create a bigger problem of excessive tension, avoidance, negative feelings, and more, exacerbating stuttering. Everyone who stutters is different; thus, stuttering treatment is always tailored to the individual.
In therapy, we look at your story and work on the feelings and thoughts that might hold you back in your day-to-day communication. We also work with valuable communication skills and speaking techniques. We will quickly take your new skills out of the four walls of the therapy room and implement them into your real life.
Cluttering is a communication disorder in which a person talks very fast or at an irregular speed, leading to intelligibility problems. Symptoms can include high numbers of disfluencies, imprecise articulation, ‘swallowing’ parts of the sentence, and loss of control over sentence structure.
It is difficult for someone who clutters to monitor their speech inaccuracies on the spot. They often only realise the unintelligibility when the conversation partner reacts confused. Cluttering can be frustrating for the person who has it and the people in their environment.
Following diagnosis, the person who clutters and those closest to them learn how to manage the speech monitoring issues so that daily communication goes smoother. After gaining a thorough insight into their speaking habits, we learn and practice techniques for you to employ whenever you find them useful.
Stuttering and cluttering can exist separately, but they can also present together in a person.
SPEECH AND VOICE THERAPY
People with voice disorders can face a range of issues, including hoarseness, voice fatigue, throat pain or irritation, and pitch problems.
Causes range from voice misuse/overuse, trauma, surgery and radiotherapy, hormonal imbalance, and more.
Treatment and expectations will be adapted according to goals and needs, ensuring that everyone, including professional voice users such as teachers, singers, lawyers, and actors, receives the best possible care. That said, depending on the issues, voice therapy will include a referral for an ENT exam, customised voice hygiene advice, and exercise therapy. You will learn skills to use the different facets of your voice in a healthy, effortless way.
In adults, speech disorders often manifest as phonetic issues, where specific speech sounds are mispronounced. For instance, a lisp is a common phonetic disorder where the tongue is incorrectly positioned when producing certain sounds. Speech therapy for adults focuses on strengthening and flexing the involved speech organs, followed by progressively challenging exercises to improve the targeted speech sound(s).
In some cases, a structural problem causes articulation problems. In this case, collaboration with an orthodontist or other involved clinician is warranted. Speech disorders can also be neurological in nature.
