Stuttering (balbuties)
This is a disorder that manifests itself in the typical involuntary interruption of the fluency of the speech process. It is a generalized disorder of the coordination of the activity of muscle groups that participate on the motor implementation of speech. Speech understanding is not impaired.
This disorder has significant negative effects on the emotional experience of the child and on their social inclusion. The most frequently cited causes of stammering include heredity, negative impacts of the social environment, childhood trauma, organ causes, or metabolism disorders. In a number of cases, however, it is impossible to define one specific cause.
According to the predominance of symptoms, stammering can be classified as follows:
• Tonic (with typical increased pressure prior to pronouncing a word or sentence),
• Clonic (uncontrollable repetition of syllables) and
• Tonoclonic (repetition of syllables is preceded by increased pressure).
A frequent symptom is also noticeable behavior that accompanies speech (grimaces, blinking, swaying of the body etc.) and avoidance of eye contact.