Stuttering Takes a Star Turn on Screen, and in Research/Unravelling the mystery of faltering speech/Hypnotherapy and Dave Elman

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/health/26stutter.html

http://www.economist.com/node/18226793

Stuttering is coming under the spotlight at the moment, literally, with the release of the film “The King’s Speech” and its possibility of success at the Oscars.

The current focus in science is on brain activity, and a genetic link in half of all stutterers.

“People who stutter have motor difficulties in producing fluent speech,” said Luc De Nil, a speech-language pathologist at the University of Toronto. “They don’t have difficulty developing words or syntax, although they may process language differently. They have difficulty with efficient coordination of motor movements, and speech is such a high-demand fine-motor skill that requires extremely fast sequencing and timing.”

“He has found that parts of the brain linked to the production of speech are more active in stutterers than non-stutterers, while those involved in perceiving sounds are less so. The two sorts of brain look different, too. Stutterers tend, for instance, to have more densely packed grey matter in the areas associated with processing and producing sounds.”

Continue reading Stuttering Takes a Star Turn on Screen, and in Research/Unravelling the mystery of faltering speech/Hypnotherapy and Dave Elman

The above with respect and thanks to Hypnotherapist Jack Raymond.