Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Cluttering Disorder--to Diana

Diana,

I cannot thank you enough for telling me about Cluttering. After days of research online (including reading all 700+ messages on a Yahoo forum about Cluttering!), I am 99% sure this is what my son has! I had a long chat with his teacher yesterday where I went down the list of symptoms he matches, with examples, and she concurred with every one and had examples of her own. She was as astonished as I was to put a name to what he does. She is going to pay closer attention to his speech at school to give more examples to the speech therapist.

Last night I paid very close attention to exactly how my son talked, and discretely wrote down what he said, word for word, including stumbles, pauses, interjections, repeated words, etc. I was actually shocked at how much it occurred--really more than I thought! I guess I am used to the way he speaks so don't always notice it.

Then I had a loooong talk with the school speech therapist this afternoon and she also agreed that it sounds like Cluttering. She is familiar with it but said she has never treated a Clutterer; however, she assured me she has many resources available to learn how to treat it, if indeed this is what he has. She was very interested in the information and resources I found, plus the samples of DS8's speech I've written down. I am emailing all of it to her. She is hoping to do the evaluation by the end of this week. I think she'll be wonderful to work with.

I will write more later, but just wanted you to know. And again, Thank You!

Gratefully,
GG

Galaxy Girl,

How wonderful that your son has such a resourceful mom, perceptive teacher and cooperative special education team! I�m glad that you have a probable condition to focus on with the speech therapist. It sounds like you are newly minted �cluttering expert�. I know where to go when I have a question!

I would appreciate it if you would share any information you learn regarding home exercises to minimize the condition. My daughter is not officially diagnosed as we never followed up with the referrals. If she required speech therapy, it would probably have to be through the same district employee who denied an issue to begin with. We wouldn�t even want to go there! But, if there is something we could incorporate into her non-existent free time, I�m willing to do the work. I�ll also check out the Yahoo pages you mentioned! I�m so grateful for this forum!

Diana

Diana, does your daughter still gasp for breath while talking?

One tip I read for this was to work on teaching the clutterer to "breathe at the commas." (More about this in a minute.) Also to teach correct breathing techniques in general--i.e., deep abdominal breathing. There were some books recommended; if I find the titles again I will PM them to you.

The gasping for breath is because the clutterer hasn't learned how to breathe properly while speaking--i.e., doesn't pace their breathing the same way other people do. Or, just forgets to breathe because they're concentrating on trying to figure out how to communicate all the information in their heads. One clutterer described it as trying to fit a lot of words/info into a small amount of time, so they talk fast and don't breathe, run out of air, and gasp for air at odd times, which disrupts the flow of speech.

About breathing on the commas: apparently it's common for clutterers to run right over periods and commas. I had DS8 read aloud to me last night, and sure enough, he barely stopped for periods and raced through commas even faster. I pointed this out to him and then he worked on stopping at the periods, and counting to 3 in his head before continuing. I also asked him to try and take a breath when he sees a comma. He did a good job of this for about 5 sentences and then forgot about it again. So it will take time and practice.

One stutterer wrote on the Yahoo forum that learning to breath on the commas helped him to start thinking about speaking in small phrases, instead of having to compose and spit out everything at once.

If I come across any other exercises I will post or PM to you.

GG

Thanks Diana. I am happy to have a name for all of this. But we really don't have a "cooperative special education team" yet, just the speech pathologist being wonderfully receptive. Which is great--but I'm not going to count on anything in terms of services, because who knows what the school district might say or do. I am really clueless at this point as to how the whole SPED thing works, what they're required to do, etc. I'm just in wait-and-see mode (plus Research Research Research mode) until after speech pathologist does her evaluation.

The big unanswered question for me is, if he does have the Cluttering disorder, how does it affect his learning? Does it actually impair his learning? His grades are mostly A's--I think all A's on the most recent report card. So how can I say this is impairing his learning and he needs accommodations?

Big learning curve here for me....

GG

Yes, somewhat. I think I am so used to her speech that I don�t notice it as much as others may although nobody has ever brought to my attention (other than the U. team). She has a lot of confidence in public speaking. When she has a script (for speech competition or when acting in a play) she memorizes her lines easily and delivers them loud and articulately. When she is expressing HERSELF verbally, she uses fillers such as �like�, �uhm� and �you know�. I had always thought it was just a bad habit, not a condition.

I am a fast talker myself (although articulate like Willa). I sometimes find it harder to concentrate when people talk too slowly (slightly slower than average rate)- it annoys me. I actually prefer some of the above, as long as the rate is fast enough. I always assumed it was because I was from the north.

I will pay more attention to her speech over the next week. It is very interesting that phonological perception is also related to cluttering. Thanks for sharing.

diana

When people tell me to slow down my talking I tell them to listen faster!!!!

bwahahahahahaha!

ok. so they don't laugh either. I was just chatting with Mite's principal today (a dear fellow that guy...more on that later) and he told me, as he often does, to slow down cuz he can't understand me. Usually when I slow down it becomes very slow and very very deliberate and I lose half of what I want to say in the process (kinda like Mite and his little hands and writing). It is very frustrating and unnatural.


Actually, I'm surprised you guys can understand me cuz I type fast, too!!!! bwahahahahahaha!! You must speed read!!! bwhahahahahahah!!!

ok. sorry. I'm a bit giddy tonight.