====== Stuttering ======

//Stuttering//, estimated to affect 55 million people worldwide, is defined as :

>- a disruption in the fluency of verbal expression characterized by involuntary, audible or silent, repetitions or prolongations of sounds or syllables"\\ \\ Source : [[https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020046|PLoS Biol 2(2): e46]]{{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16&nolink|Open Access}}

Over the centuries, a number of theories about how stuttering arises (and what treatment approaches should be used) have been proposed.

It tends to affect children more than adults - and boys four times more than girls. It's currently unknown whether stuttering is a cognitive, motor, or sensory disorder - or some combination of the three.

Recent progress in near-realtime brain imaging studies have found that :

> (i) in stutterers, the right hemisphere seems to be hyperactive, and (ii) a timing problem seems to exist between the left frontal and the left central cortex."\\ \\ [ source as above ]

Current medical treatments tend to be based around 'neuroleptic' (anti-psychotic) drugs such as //haloperidol, [[content:medicine:drugs:risperidone|risperidone]]//, and// olanzapine// - which are also used to help control [[content:medicine:diseases:r-z:tourette_syndrome]]

//Notes://

[1] Several studies have documented the fact that over 90% of people who stutter in normal speech can sing song-lyrics without any difficulties. There is no explanation for this effect.  [ Ref : [[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348856257_Do_singing_and_talking_arise_from_the_same_or_different_neurological_systems_Dissociations_of_pitch_timing_and_rhythm_in_two_dysprosodic_singers|Psychomusicology: Music, Mind and Brain Vol. 31, Iss. 1, 18-34]] ]

[2] It's known that in some cases the disorder has a genetic component, as it tends to run in families. The associated genes have not been identified.