I speak very very quickly.
So quickly I am often asked to "slow down".
The principal at Mite's school often asks me to slow down because he can't understand me.
After a car accident in Sept. I started stuttering and having difficulty with word retrieval.
Could these be symptoms of cluttering?
Okay, Fite, keeping in mind that everything I know about this I learned in the past two days, the answer is Yes, these are all symptoms of Cluttering--except the Stuttering. Stuttering and Cluttering are different; stuttering is a speech disorder, and cluttering is a language disorder--it has to do with the ability to organize language. (But, what you call stuttering might actually be cluttering. Confused yet? LOL Tell us how what you call stuttering manifests and I can tell you more.)
A problem with *rate of speech* is a key defining factor in diagnosis. Which means, the speech is too fast, or too "choppy," or both -- which makes it sound disfluent.
I have tons of information I've been compiling and would be happy to email if you want it. Meanwhile...
Here is some info from the ASHA:
"The definition of cluttering adopted by the fluency disorders division of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association says cluttering is
a fluency disorder characterized by a rapid and/or irregular speaking rate, excessive disfluencies and often other symptoms such as language or phonological errors and attention deficits.
Evidence for a fluency disorder �one that is not stuttering� and excessive disfluencies, would be present in a speaker who meets
all of the following:
Does not sound "fluent," that is, does not seem to be clear about what he or she wants to say or how to say it;
Has excessive levels of "normal disfluencies," such as interjections and revisions;
Has little or no apparent physical struggle in speaking;
Has few if any accessory (secondary) behaviors.
A rapid and/or irregular speaking rate would be present in a speaker who has
any or all of the following:
Talks "too fast" based on an overall impression or actual syllable per minute counts;
Sounds "jerky";
Has pauses that are too short, too long or improperly placed.
These fluency and rate deviations are the essential symptoms of cluttering. In addition, however, there are a number of symptoms suggested in the latter part of the above definition that
may or may not be present, but add support to the impression that a person is cluttering. Accordingly, the clinical picture of a typical cluttering problem would be enhanced if the person in question had
any of the following:
Confusing, disorganized language or conversational skills;
Limited awareness of his or her fluency and rate problems;
Temporary improvement when asked to "slow down" or "pay attention" to speech;
Mispronunciation or slurrring of speech sounds or deleting non-stressed syllables in longer words (e.g., "ferchly" for "fortunately");
Speech that is difficult to understand;
Several blood relatives who stutter or clutter;
Social or vocational problems resulting from cluttering symptoms;
Learning disability not related to reduced intelligence;
Sloppy handwriting;
Distractibility, hyperactivity or a limited attention span;
Auditory perceptual difficulties."
Hope this helps!
GG
