Clinical psychology and neurological disability : psychological therapies for stuttering

Abstract

Services offered by clinical psychologists to people with neurological disorders have been limited and this is certainly true for the treatment of stuttering. Evidence suggests stuttering that begins in early childhood is a developmental disorder involving the speech-motor neural systems. The consequence of having a stutter is an involuntary disruption to speech that may vary in severity depending on emotional status or environmental context. Generally, the stutter becomes more entrenched and severe as a person who stutters (PWS) enters adolescence and adulthood, and it therefore becomes more difficult to treat. While a pws can often cope and adapt successfully with their disfluency disorder, a substantial minority are at risk of developing abnormal levels of anxiety and developing social fears that may impede educational and vocational development. Many may also adopt helpless and fatalistic coping strategies. However, state-of-the-art psychological treatments that address the speech disorder and the concurrent psychological distress have been shown to substantially reduce stuttering severity. For instance, recent clinical trials involving cognitive-behavioural treatment with children and adolescents who stutter demonstrate great potential for enhancing the quality of the lives of PWS. These trials suggest that clinical psychologist services that utilise similar cognitive therapy approaches could result in immediate and longterm improvements in life outcomes for PWS of all ages.