Stuttering, also known as stammering and dysphemia, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the person who stutters is unable to produce sounds. The term stuttering is most commonly associated with involuntary sound repetition, but it also encompasses the abnormal hesitation or pausing before speech, referred to by people who stutter as blocks, and the prolongation of certain sounds, usually vowels or semivowels. According to Watkins et al., stuttering is a disorder of "selection, initiation, and execution of motor sequences necessary for fluent speech production". For many people who stutter, repetition is the main problem. The term "stuttering" covers a wide range of severity, from barely perceptible impediments that are largely cosmetic to severe symptoms that effectively prevent oral communication. Almost 70 million people worldwide stutter, about 1% of the world's population. Four-fifths of stutterers are male.
October 22 was designated International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD), or International Stammering Awareness Day as it is known in the UK and Ireland, in 1998. The day is intended to raise public awareness of the issues faced by millions of people – one percent of the world's population – who stutter, or stammer.
Gareth Paul Gates is an English singer-songwriter. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show Pop Idol in 2002. Gates has sold over 3.5 million records in the UK. He is also known for having a stutter, and has talked about his speech impediment publicly. Gates used the McGuire Programme to manage his stutter and is now a speech coach with the programme.
Starfish are a group of marine invertebrates.
The European League of Stuttering Associations (ELSA) was set up in 1990 by organisations in 12 countries to promote a greater knowledge and understanding of stuttering and to bring together, as a top umbrella organisation, the national stuttering self-help organisations of Europe. ELSA is a trans-national, cross-cultural organisation. It seeks resources only open to multi-national groups, extends the exchange-of-information network, and lobbies for stutterers at a prominent international level.
Jaik Campbell is a British comedian, and an Edinburgh Festival Fringe regular since 2001 and performed his first solo show "I've Stuttered So I'll F-F-Finish" in 2005. He performs stand-up regularly in London at prestigious venues such as The Comedy Store, Banana Cabaret and Headliners, and has appeared on BBC and ITV television. Campbell performed a new show "L-L-Lost for Words: My Life with a Stutter" at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The McGuire Programme is a stammering treatment programme/course run for people who stammer by people who stammer.
Electronic fluency devices are electronic devices intended to improve the fluency of persons who stutter. Most electronic fluency devices change the sound of the user's voice in his or her ear.
There are many references to stuttering in popular culture. Because of the unusual-sounding speech that is produced, as well as the behaviors and attitudes that accompany a stutter, stuttering has been a subject of scientific interest, curiosity, discrimination, and ridicule.
Stuttering therapy is any of the various treatment methods that attempt to reduce stuttering to some degree in an individual. Stuttering can be a challenge to treat because there is a lack of evidence-based consensus about therapy. Some believe that there is no cure for the condition.
Charles Gage Van Riper was a renowned speech therapist who became internationally known as a pioneer in the development of speech pathology. A severe stutterer throughout his career, he is described as having had the most influence of any speech-language pathologist in the field of stuttering.
The National Stuttering Association (NSA) is a United States support group organization for people who stutter. Its headquarters are in New York City.
The Stuttering Foundation of America provides free online resources, services and support to those who stutter and their families, as well as support for research into the causes of stuttering. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, The Stuttering Foundation was established by Malcolm Fraser, the co-founder of Genuine Parts Company, in 1947 in Memphis, Tennessee The Stuttering Foundation provides a toll-free helpline, free printed and online resources including books, pamphlets, videos, posters, referral services, support and information for people who stutter and their families, and research into the causes of stuttering.
David Seidler is a British-American playwright and film and television writer.
The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering is a specialist centre for speech and language therapy for stammering in London, England. It officially opened in 1993 as a joint initiative between the charity Association for Research into Stammering in Childhood and the Camden & Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust. It is now run by the Whittington Health NHS Trust with support from Action for Stammering Children and the Stuttering Foundation of America. It is located in Pine Street, central London.
The King's Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates the throne, the new king relies on Logue to help him make his first wartime radio broadcast upon Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1939.
Lionel George Logue, CVO was an Australian speech and language therapist and amateur stage actor who helped King George VI manage his stammer.
The Indian Stammering Association (TISA) is a public charitable trust and self-help movement for people in India who stammer.
The British Stammering Association (BSA), trading as Stamma since 2019, is a national membership organisation in the United Kingdom for adults and children who stammer, their friends and families, speech and language therapists and other professionals. It became a charity in 1978 and is based in London. The mission of the charity is to support anyone who stammers in the UK and tackle the stigma, ignorance and discrimination that people who stammer face so that they can live their lives in full and with dignity. It describes stammering as a neurological condition and estimates that up to 3% of adults in the UK have a stammer.
