A large number of people in the world suffer or has suffered from speech disorders like stuttering or stammering at some point in their lives. Stuttering or stammering is the involuntary disruption or interruption in speech where certain sounds are prolonged or words are repeated. Speech disorder can cause a lot of problems in terms of personality build up and causes anxiety in people. Every activity of the body is dealt or controlled by the nervous system and the brain. Thus the proper functioning of the body is the sole responsibility of the brain and any glitch can affect the functions to a certain extent.

What are the symptoms of speech disorders?

Words are repeated
Prolongation of words or silent blocks
Hesitation while speaking
Difficulty while starting a word or a phrase
What causes speech disorders?

Genetic problems
Impatience
Stress, Shame and Anxiety
Embarrassment and nervousness
Loss of control while speaking
Ayurvedic remedies to overcome speech disorders:

Brahmi Oil: It is a stimulant that is known to calm your mind and boost the function of the brain. Take 10 ml of the oil and warm it. Cool it down to a suitable temperature and apply to your head when it is lukewarm, half an hour before going for a shower. You can also apply it before going to bed and shampoo the morning after. This is more effective.
Black pepper, almond and sugar candy: Take black pepper, and make a paste out of it. To the paste, add 7 ground almonds and mix it with sugar candy. Consume this paste every day for at least a month.
Amla: It is an effective remedy, especially in children to stop stammering. Also known as Indian Gooseberry, it should be chewed on to slowly every day.
Cow's Butter: Also called as ghee, it is responsible for brain development and is known to increase memory. Add this ingredient to your food.

Speech Disorders - How Ayurveda Can Help You?

Speech therapy is a very specific field of medicine where the therapists deal with speech disorders in children and adults, which may be a result of certain mental or personality disorders. These doctors can be essential when it comes to teaching a child how to articulate better and also to be more expressive of his/her feelings. Here is a look at a few of the benefits of a speech therapist in the life of a child suffering from speech impairment.

Improvement of articulation skills: Articulation refers to the movement of the mouth, lips and tongue in such a manner so as to form and pronounce a word properly. Aside from the movement of the mouth, voice modulation also falls within the purview of articulation. A child suffering from speech impairment cannot perform this activity as easily as a healthy child does. This is where a speech therapist comes into play. These specialists can ensure that the child s mouth movement and voice modulation can be in perfect harmony to form words normally.
Language skills: Some form of mental disorders severely limit the number of new words or grammar rules that a child can learn. A speech therapist can aid such children in learning the basic rules of grammar and apply these rules when they speak out. So, it is quite likely that the therapists may also act as teachers for the children and improve their overall vocabulary.
Improvement of listening skills: Difficulty in speaking can sometimes also lead to difficulty in understanding what others are saying. So, if your child has a speech impairment, it may mean that he has problems understanding what you say to him. In such a circumstance, the speech therapist can, for instance, help your child understand the difference between a question and a statement. In the long run, the listening skill will help your child comprehend you better.
Reduction of stammering: Stuttering and stammering are forms of speech impairment that many children suffer from. However, such impairments can be easily rectified by undergoing a few sessions with a speech therapist. The therapist can clear your child s speech and ensure that the stammering disappears by the time he/she grows up.
Treat certain vocal conditions: Your child may be unable to speak clearly due to an issue with his/her vocal chords. If that is the case, speech therapists can sometimes help your child with the same. Abnormal vocal resonance can also be corrected by these specialists. 

How Speech Therapy Can Help Your Child Be More Expressive?

Speech therapy is a very distinct form of science that is often misunderstood by people in general. While the benefits of such a therapy is countless, people misinterpret what the therapy actually involves and what it does not. If you are avoiding speech therapy due to the following reasons, you should stop doing so as these are nothing but fabricated myths.

Speech therapy is all about talking: Do not think that speech therapy only involves talking with the therapist. The therapy focuses on the overall communication skills of a person, which definitely involves the speech but also the intricacies of articulation and body language. Sign aids and comprehension skills are also paid attention to in such a therapy session. So, if you feel that you have a problem regarding any one of these aspects, you need to visit a speech therapist.
Speech therapy is uninteresting: Nothing can be further from the truth than this. In fact, a visit to a dentist can be boring, but a visit to a speech therapist will always involve interesting activities such as tongue twisters. The therapists often treat children, which means that their offices, house toys, and other games designed to indulge the minds of infants as well.
A qualified speech therapist is needed for the therapy: Another myth, which needs to be dispelled, is that only a qualified speech therapist can help improve the speech of a person. In fact, any person who has a vast knowledge of diction, linguistic insight, and knowledge of grammar can help people with speech impairment. So, before visiting the doctor, the adults in the family should try and clear out the impairment themselves.
Speech therapy fixes issues in the snap of a finger: As with any kind of treatment, speech therapy does not work like magic. It is a continuous and long process that needs to be followed through. The pace of this treatment depends on the patient. Some patients are more receptive to this therapy than others. So, there is no guideline for the treatment of all speech-impaired individuals and one needs to be treated and allowed to get better at their own pace.
Your child will automatically learn perfect speech: If your child suffers from a speech impairment, do not delay a therapy session by thinking that he/she will automatically learn to speak better as they grow up. This way of thinking is not beneficial and hinders the eventual treatment for the impairment. The speech therapist can help you better if you bring your child to him/her as soon as you detect an issue. 

Don't Let These Myths Turn You Off From Speech Therapy

Change in voice or voice mutilation happens when the voice breaks that commonly occur when a person reaches puberty. Before puberty, almost all the girls and boys have the same voice pitch. But after puberty, a boy s voice deepens an octave and the girl s voice deepens only several tones. Therefore, it becomes easy to identify the gender through voice. 

Another type of change in voice is known as voice crack. It happens when a person unintentionally enters a higher voice pitch zone for a brief period of time. It may be due to singing, shouting, talking in noise, and several other reasons. Also, there are several medical conditions leading to voice break or hoarseness. 

Medical Causes for Change in Voice

Acute Laryngitis: In this, the hoarseness or voice loss starts suddenly. One of the reasons can be a viral infection that causes swelling of vocal cords. Staying hydrated and less talk can treat it. 

Chronic Laryngitis: It can cause acid reflux disease. Exposure to irritating smoke, infections of vocal cords, or asthma can be some of the reasons. It can be cured only through medication.

Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease: This problem causes a change in voice. Due to this disease, people may also suffer from swelling issues, a lump in the throat, hoarseness in voice, and throat pain. 

Voice Misuse: Excessively loud voice, prolonged talking, and inefficient voice use can cause a change in voice and also known as voice misuse. 

Risk Factors That Can Cause Voice Disorder

Aging, alcohol use, and allergies are some of the major reasons for the voice disorder. Apart from these, smoking and throat cancer also results in a change in voice or voice disorders. All these are highly risky causes for the throat and may result in long-time problems. 

Some other risk factors are thyroid, psychological stress, and neurological disorder. 

How to Treat Voice Disorder?

One can use an air humidifier to keep the air of the surrounding moist because breathing moist air is a simple solution to the problem.

Giving rest to voice is also a solution.

One must drink plenty of liquids to keep the throat hydrated.

One must avoid whispering and decongestants to take care of the throat.

One must avoid shouting for a long time.

Avoid staying in a polluted area for a long time.

Gargling the throat every day with lukewarm water is good.

Staying warm during winters is also necessary.

All these remedies are simple and can be tried comfortably. A simple change in voice can turn out to be serious if not taken proactive measures. Therefore, one must not ignore any small unintentional change in the voice.

Conclusion
One must consult ENT doctor immediately for any sudden change in voice and if the problem lasts for a long period of time. 



Change In Voice - What Can Cause It?

Stuttering is a type of speech disorder wherein, a person speaks slower than normal. It is quite  common in the age group of 3 to 8. The relationship between stress and stuttering has been pondered over for decades now. A lot of people seem to believe that stress and stuttering are co-related. On the contrary, recent studies show that stress is more of a consequence rather than a cause of stuttering. If you take the first theory into consideration, then according to that, children would be the greatest victims of anxiety and stress. But it is seen that the level of stress increases proportionately with the increase in age.

Social anxiety in teenagers increases due to stuttering, when they come across individuals who can speak in a normal pace. This in turn can crush their self confidence and lead them to isolate themselves from social groups and people in general. Hence, it is important to deal with stuttering in the early ages or as and when it occurs. 

Sometimes stuttering can develop due to physical or mental trauma.  Most people with stuttering do not seek therapy for it because they might not think of it to be too severe. Little do they realise that a simple process of speech therapy can help them overcome this disability and rejuvenate their level of self-confidence.

It has also come to light, that people with relapse in stuttering post therapy has shown a three-fold increase in anxiety levels than normal. Hence we cannot ignore the strong relationship between stress and stuttering. So from the above evidence, it is safe to conclude that social anxiety or stress develops as a result of chronic stuttering.

How to deal with stress related to stuttering?

Seeking help is a great start to tackle your disability. If your stuttering is prominent enough to warrant therapy, you must seek professional help for the same. You must also learn to control your anxiety by dismissing any anxious thought or make sincere efforts in controlling physical anxiety.

You can also try to increase your social skills by participating in events, such as public speaking that can reduce your stress levels and make yourself more confident about yourself. One must also remember that a person is defined by what he does rather than what he says. So never let a minor disability come in the way of your self worth!

Stress and Stuttering - How to Deal with It?

Trouble with speech arises from a number of issues in the brain or the nerves that are responsible for the control of the larynx, vocal cords and facial muscles. Muscular disorders end up affecting the teeth, mouth and jaws which in turn will invariably impair speech. Sometimes many of the health conditions are present since childbirth whereas others might occur because of infections, injury, tumors and metabolic diseases.
There are different kinds of speech disorders; they are -

Aphasia is the inability to comprehend language in any form (written, spoken) and generally takes place because of disturbances in the brain.
Dysarthria is the condition that makes articulation difficult for patients suffering from it. Symptoms associated with dysarthia are difficulty swallowing and slurred speech.
Spasmodic dysphonia makes speaking a difficult job because of recurrent muscle spasms. These muscles affected in this disorder control the vocal chords, and therefore your speaking ability.
As most of the cases of speech disorders start to show early on in childhood, how can you tell if your child needs speech therapy?
Here are five signs that you should keep an eye out for:

There is a distinctive lack in social mixing or interactions. Children who are not able to comprehend and effectively respond to what you say need to be evaluated.
By the time the baby is twelve months old, she or he would be able to create words. By the time they turn eighteen months old they are able to connect words. If the ability to create such words or make gestures or sounds are absent or are markedly reduced in your child then you need the help of a speech therapist.
Parents are capable of understanding what their child says by the time they turn one and a half to two years old. If this is not the case then you will have to seek the help of a therapist.
If your baby is nearly three years old and is still incapable of uttering simple words such as  Daddy sleep ,  mommy hungry  then you might need external help.
If your precious baby is significantly facing trouble with consonants such as  ma   ba ,  pa  at the age of two or is incapable of making sounds such as  k  or  g  then your child most likely has a speech disorder. You should get him evaluated at the earliest.

5 Telltale Signs That Your Child Needs Speech Therapy!!

Don't wait any longer, manage your Speech Therapist online with a Lybrate doctor today

Consult for Speech Therapist - Online and Easy!

FilterClear All

COMMON SPECIALITIES

COMMON ISSUES