Speech Fluency Disorders or Stuttering in Adulthood
As mentioned before, speech fluency disorders or stuttering can be observed in every period and season of life. Stuttering/speech fluency problems that are not intervened in the early years of life can go through changes and continue into adulthood. The stuttering/speech fluency problem that the individual has been experiencing since childhood, including adolescence, becomes more complex and challenging with the accumulated negative experiences. In these years when a person begins to establish and maintain his life, the individual enters into business life and chooses the person with whom he will share his life. However, the stuttering/speech fluency problem he experiences throughout this process can make his life difficult. Regardless of all these, stuttering/speech fluency problem is a big problem in itself because stuttering/speech fluency problem negatively affects every aspect of a person's life as a whole. Due to stuttering/speech fluency problems, an adult may have to deal with psychological, social, emotional and communication problems. For this reason, stuttering/speech fluency problems should be addressed holistically and multidimensionally, not only with therapies targeting speech. For this, clients need to be known well holistically and be strengthened and supported in the areas they need.
Speech Fluency Problems or Stuttering in Adolescence
Scientific studies and clinical experiences show that the onset of stuttering/speech fluency problems is around the age of 7 at the latest. Stuttering/speech fluency problems that occur after this age are almost non-existent. However, as mentioned before, stuttering/speech fluency problems arise from different reasons and show different characteristics and undergo changes in different periods of life. Other problems caused by stuttering/speech fluency problems vary depending on the age of the individual. Stuttering/speech fluency problems that persist during adolescence affect many areas of the individual, from family communication to peer communication and academic success. In this period when the foundations of adulthood are being laid, it is not surprising that the individual who experiences the above problems will have to cope with these problems not only in the current period but also in the future. At the same time, adolescence and the individual's personal characteristics should be evaluated holistically, and in fluency therapies, the individual should receive support in areas where he/she needs support, along with speech fluency.
Speech Fluency Problems or Stuttering in Childhood
Speech fluency problems or stuttering is a problem that is observed regardless of the age of the individual and negatively affects the individual's life. However, stuttering/speech fluency problems may manifest themselves at different periods of life for different reasons. Therefore, stuttering/speech fluency problem should be addressed from this perspective in childhood. A child who starts speaking after language acquisition may show signs of stuttering/speech fluency problems, usually between the ages of 4-6. These symptoms are blocks, sound-syllable prolongations or sound-syllable repetitions during speech. Stuttering/speech fluency problems may arise from different reasons in childhood. Correctly identifying these causes allows therapies to be directed to the real underlying problem of stuttering/speech fluency problems, and thus successful therapies can be realized.
Specific Language Disorders
Although language and speaking are easy skills for most of us, using these skills is quite difficult for some individuals. Another problem that causes this is specific language disorders. To define it very simply, language is a system of symbols that work according to a set of certain rules that we use to express thoughts and concepts verbally. This system of symbols and rules is divided into five subcomponents: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and usage information (pragmatics). In some cases, preschool and school-age children experience language problems due to the problems observed in these sub-language components. While these language problems can be seen in a single sublingual component, they generally occur in more than one sublingual component. Individuals who have to deal with this problem have difficulties such as choosing appropriate words, wrong word ordering, and using affixes. Even if they can say what they want to say, there are obvious differences in their speech. They speak with effort, and when they start talking they may feel confused or not know what to say or how to say it.
Speech Sound Disorders
Speech sound disorders are one of the most common problems in preschool children. Children with speech sound problems have lower speech intelligibility than their peers. Speech sound disorders can be seen at mild, moderate and severe levels. Speech sound disorders can be divided into three subdomains: articulation, phonology and apraxia. It is very important to correctly diagnose and understand the types of these speech sound disorders because sound errors or low intelligibility that appear to be speech sound errors from the outside arise from different reasons, so therapy methods and approaches are shaped accordingly. Children with speech sound problems may be exposed to negative emotional states such as anger and frustration because they have difficulty being understood. This can negatively affect children's overall development. Although it is a problem observed in the preschool period, there are also speech sound disorders that continue until the school period. Another negative aspect of speech sound disorders is that they are a risk factor that makes learning to read and write difficult, regardless of the period in which they occur.
Delayed Speech and Language
When the baby is born, he is also born into a language environment. It receives the sounds and rules of the language or languages ​​spoken in its environment, processes it and acquires this language or languages, that is, it begins to communicate with this language or languages. Babies start babbling when they are about six months old. In short, babbling is the process in which the baby begins to play by experimenting with speech sounds. He tries to speak in his own way by diversifying sounds and syllables and making different orders. At the end of this process, the first words begin to be heard around the age of one. During the language acquisition process, the baby increases the number of words he has and continues by making sentences with more than one word. While these are expected in case of health development, in some cases language and speech delay may occur. Although there are no observed problems, the baby cannot exhibit language and speech skills like his peers. What needs to be done in the face of this situation that worries families is to make sure that there is no factor causing this situation and to eliminate this possibility. For this reason, examinations and checks by pediatricians who perform the health checks of the baby are of great importance. If the pediatrician thinks that the baby has delayed language and speech, an evaluation by a speech and language therapist is required.
