17 Mar 2011
While speech therapy as depicted in the movie The King's Speech is no longer applied today, its emphasis on confidence and cooperation is still vital for overcoming stuttering.
Two scenes are unforgettable in the Oscar-winning film The King's Speech.
As the stuttering monarch, George VI, is put through his paces to cure his speech impediment, a speech therapist makes him swallow marbles while he enunciates his words. In another scene, he is made to roll on the ground while reciting a limerick.
Mr Ally Amir did not have to do either at Singapore General Hospital's speech therapy clinic. But he faced equally daunting tasks in his quest to rid himself of the stutter he had suffered from for 30 years.
The 38-year-old electrical engineer's greatest bugbear was a piece of equipment most people use every day without thinking.
"The phone to me was the most dreaded device, so I almost flipped when I was made to 'call' a tour company to inquire about tour packages. This was part of simulated phone calls to employ a speech technique," said Mr Amir, who is single.
Noting that he had trouble introducing himself to clients, Ms Robyn Foo, his speech therapist, took him around the clinic and had him introduce himself to 10different people.
Though it has been 60 years since the events in the film, and even if its approach has changed dramatically, speech therapy is still the main treatment for stutterers today.
Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a physical disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary pauses and a lack of speech control.
Some signs of stuttering include repetitions like "c-c-ca-cat", prolongations like "raaaa-bit", and blocks, which are stoppages of air that prevent a stutterer from producing the rest of the word.
To date, there is no exclusive cause for stuttering. According to Ms Foo, there is evidence to suggest that stuttering may be hereditary, where 60 per cent of people who stutter are able to identify someone in their family who stutters as well.
Psychological emotions such as nervousness or anxiety may exacerbate stuttering, but they do not cause the disorder.
According to Ms Praema Viswam, the chief speech therapist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, stuttering may originate in early childhood. This can gradually continue into adulthood. She said stuttering can also be the result of a severely traumatic incident – either physical or psychological – at or around birth
Though there is no cure for stuttering, it is best controlled when speech therapy is started early in childhood. Parents should seek advice from a speech therapist as soon as they notice that their child stutters. This will prevent the speech disorder following them into adulthood.
Mr Amir's problem was never addressed in childhood.
"In adulthood, the stutter would be considered chronic. There is no cure for stuttering once a child reaches schooling age and it becomes more entrenched," said Ms Foo.
Adult therapy works towards reducing the frequency and severity of stuttering to meet the individual goals of each stutterer, added Ms Viswam.
For children who stutter, the Lindcombe programme is used. This is where parents are trained to listen for stuttered speech and to correct the child, with the guidance of the clinician.
Putting marbles in one's mouth is definitely not part of modern speech therapy, said Ms Joanne Silvestri, a speech therapist at The Speech Pathology Centre in Tanglin Shopping Centre.
"As far as I'm aware, this technique was never used as an early therapy option for stuttering and most certainly is not used today," she said.
But other techniques employed by the unconventional therapist Lionel Logue in the film work on principles that still apply today. In one instance, King George is made to listen to music while reciting.
"This is called 'masking auditory feedback' and has been shown to be effective while the noise masks the speech of the person, changing the rhythm of speech and improving the stutter," said MsSilvestri.
But the effect wears off once the background noise is turned off. Its main value is to give patients confidence to follow through with the therapy.
By and large, however, modern forms of therapy take a different approach from the techniques used 60 years ago.
"Our focus is on speech restructuring techniques like pronunciation and speech patterns rather than strengthening or relaxing any particular muscles," said MsSilvestri.
In modern speech therapy, patients are taught the Smooth Speech technique. This involves pronouncing each syllable slowly and precisely while pausing at the right places. It leads to clear and fluent speech.
Ms Foo said the technique is effective in reducing stuttering by 80 to 95 per cent, as long as there is daily practice and constant use.
But successful therapy depends on the patient's mindset too.
Dr Marcus Tan, the medical director and consultant psychiatrist at Nobel Psychological Wellness Clinic, said patients who stutter become self-conscious and anxious later in life, usually as the result of being made fun of in childhood.
Hence, counselling forms part of the therapy in giving the patient options to improve his fluency and build up his motivation to continue treatment.
For Mr Amir, positivity and confidence are keys to his success. Though he occasionally trips over a word or two, he feels that the therapy has greatly helped him, although he began it only as an adult in 2007.
He is now much more aware of his speech patterns and what to do when his fluency starts to drift.
"It takes time, determination and effort to manage my condition. Trusting and building rapport with my speech therapist is important in fighting this battle. If someone teaches you a new thing and you don't apply it, you won't succeed," he said.
Click here for jpeg format
Dept of Speech Therapy
« Back to previous
page
back to top