Paediatria Croatica, Vol. 52 No. 3, 2008.
Meeting abstract
NEUROGENIC STUTTERING IN CHILDREN
Senka Sardelić
; Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, HZMO, Zagreb, Croatia
Nada Šikić
; Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, HZMO, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Introduction: Neurogenic stuttering is a fluency disorder caused by the coordination inability of all articulation muscles involved in speech production. It can be present in adults and also in children. Present research shows that it is caused by lesions in the frontal, parietal and temporal lobe, by damage to the brain steam, basal ganglia, and cerebellum and because of white matter damage of the frontal lobe tract in both hemispheres. Compared to developmental stuttering, neurogenic stuttering is characterized by specific speech symptomatology, further difficulties and neurologic pathology.
Aim: Distinguishing neurogenic stuttering from developmental stuttering using logopedic and neurological diagnostic methods.
Methods: a/ initial logopedic diagnostics in relation to specific symptomatology; b/ acoustical voice and speech analysis (phonation and diadohocinetic); c/ psychological assessment; d/ neurological assessment
Results: A multiannual team work of logopedists and neurologists resulted in the recognition of children with atypical speech dysfluency and confirmed neurological pathology, accompanied by difficulties that need different therapeutic procedures. In contrast to developmental stuttering, in neurogenic stuttering there is no consistency in the occurrence of dysfluency. Dysfluency can appear in every position in a word, in all word categories including spontaneous speech, automatic speech and singing. Acoustical analysis indicates varying laryngeal muscle enervation. Neurologocical diagnostics indicate cortical, subcortical, pyramidal and extrapyramidal pathology.
Conclusion: The results of this paper confirmed the necessity of a team approach in the diagnostics and therapy of early childhood dysfluency in speech. Not all dysfluency in speech is stuttering. There is no need to wait until the age of four or five years for speech to become fluent without any intervention.
In early childhood 5% of children stutter, and in about 3% of cases it disappears spontaneously. In the remaining 2% there are many children whose stuttering is a symptom of some other pathology.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
29667
URI
Publication date:
18.11.2008.
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