Evaluation of Word Finding Difficulty in Young Children with Fluency Disorders

Abstract

tuttering is the most common fluency disorder. It is characterised by disruption in the forward flow of speech in form of (repetitions, prolongations, blocks, interjections, and revisions) and may be accompanied by secondary behaviors, physical tension, negative reactions, increased avoidance, or decreased overall communication. Despite many theories about the cause and nature of stuttering, the specific cause of stuttering remains unclear at this time. Over decades, many theoretical perspectives have been proposed to describe the cause and nature of stuttering. Multifactorial models suggest that more than one factor needs to be present for stuttering to occur. Examples of causal factors include innate e.g., genetic, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and environmental factors. Speech occurs as a result of connections between linguistic, cognitive and sensorimotor processes. Neuromuscular control requires complex motor skills and coordinated operation of many systems (respiration, phonation and articulation). It has long been clear that stuttering involves problems in speech motor planning and execution with frank breakdowns in speech motor processes resulting in perceptible dysfluencies varying in duration and form.