The three primary symptoms of ADHD are a short attention span, impulsive behavior, and hyperactivity. However, individuals with ADHD may also experience stuttering, which some refer to as stammering or childhood-onset fluency disorder.
For many people with ADHD, their speech, language, and communication skills are significantly affected. Individuals with ADHD are at a higher risk of developing articulation disorders, issues with speech fluency, and a decrease in the overall quality and tone of their speaking voice.
A stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other brain disorders can cause speech that is slow or has pauses or repeated sounds (neurogenic stuttering). Speech fluency can also be disrupted in the context of emotional distress. Speakers who do not stutter may experience dysfluency when they are nervous or feeling pressured.
The most common stimulant medications include Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine. They are effective in approximately 70%-80% of cases. Several recent case studies have suggested that the use of stimulant medications may actually increase stuttering.
Although anxiety may make neurogenic stuttering worse, anxiety is more closely tied to developmental stuttering. Negative experiences with others can fuel a person's anxiety about stuttering, and this anxiety may make stuttering worse.
Is Stuttering A Sign or Symptom Of autism? Quite a number of children and adults with ASD have speech disfluencies such as stammering. It is important to remember that neither is stuttering a form of autism, nor is it a sign of autism in the case of most individuals.
As Luc F. De Nil, an associate professor and chair of the graduate department of speech-language pathology at the University of Toronto precisely put it – stuttering has biological as well as psychological etiologies. Children who develop stuttering have a predisposition to the speech dysfluency.
Anxiety is a common issue for people who stutter, who may find speaking causes anxiety and stress, which can often exacerbate into wider issues. Anxiety and depression often follow each other, and when either goes unchecked things can become serious.
In people who stutter, the brain regions that are responsible for speech movements are particularly affected.” Two of these areas are the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which processes the planning of speech movements, and the left motor cortex, which controls the actual speech movements.
Though brain scans cannot yet reliably diagnose ADHD, some scientists are using them to identify environmental and prenatal factors that affect symptoms, and to better understand how stimulant medications trigger symptom control vs. side effects.
Many ADHD symptoms and traits can affect a person's ability to resolve conflicts. For instance, being unable to manage their emotions well can get in the way of toning down a confrontation. Being easily distracted, talking too fast or interrupting a conversation, and forgetfulness can also cause conflicts.
Researchers currently believe that stuttering is caused by a combination of factors, including genetics, language development, environment, as well as brain structure and function[1]. Working together, these factors can influence the speech of a person who stutters.
The 3 types of stuttering are developmental stuttering, neurogenic stuttering, and psychogenic stuttering. The exact cause of stuttering is unknown. A speech-language pathologist diagnoses stuttering by evaluating your child's speech and language abilities. There is no cure for stuttering.
A sudden stutter can be caused by a number of things: brain trauma, epilepsy, drug abuse (particularly heroin), chronic depression or even attempted suicide using barbiturates, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Your stutter might be classed as a disability, it depends on how much it affects your day to day activities and on how long you have had it or you're likely to have it for. You can ask your doctor or health professional what help and support is available and whether they think you have a disability.
Stuttering is more likely to last into adulthood if: It continues for more than 1 year. The child stutters after age 6. The child has speech or language problems.
Psychogenic stuttering is not common. It may happen after emotional trauma. Or it can happen along with problems thinking or reasoning.
Neurogenic stuttering is most often the result of traumatic brain injury and stroke (14).
A number of drugs have been reported to reduce stuttering. (1,2) One of these drugs is alprazolam (Xanax), an antianxiety agent. Included also are citalopram (Celexa), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and clomipramine (Anafranil), another strongly serotonergic drug.
There is no cure for stuttering. Early treatment can prevent stuttering from continuing into adulthood. Different techniques are used to teach your child skills that can help him or her speak without stuttering. For example, the SLP may teach your child to slow down speech and learn to breathe while speaking.
Both conditions may appear different from one another, as dyslexia focuses mainly on literacy difficulties, whereas stammering is a difficulty with the production of speech. If both conditions are independent, dyslexia and stammering should occur together in at least 7 out of 10,000 people.
Stuttering is a fluency disorder, partially alleviated during altered auditory feedback, suggesting abnormal sensorimotor integration in adults who stutter (AWS).
(Side note: stuttering, like autism, is a form of neurodiversity.)
Call your child's healthcare provider if your child: Has stuttering that lasts for more than 6 months. Has a fear of talking. Is not talking at all.