Week Of Therapy May Really Help Stutterers
NEW YORK (CBS NEWS) - Researchers have discovered that, after one week of speech therapy, patients who stuttered were able to significantly reduce their speech problems. What's more, the therapy lead to observable brain changes that could provide more clues about the speech disorder's causes.
For the study, 28 people with stuttering problems and 13 people with no stuttering problems were observed. Fifteen of the stutterers were enrolled in a week of therapy, with three sessions a day, while the remaining 13 stutterers along with the stutter-free subjects received no therapy. Each therapy session consisted of repeating two-syllable words that were said to them and then reading words that were presented to them visually.
The average scores on stuttering tests for those who went to therapy improved and the percentage of stuttered syllables they uttered decreased. No changes were recorded for those who did not receive therapy.
Furthermore, brain scans taken at the beginning and the end of the study showed that there were changes in the strength of signal from the area of the brain known as the pars opercularis, which is known to be involved with speech and language. Compared to controls, stutterers showed stronger interactions in speech areas of the brain. But those who underwent therapy reduced the amount of connectivity to the same levels as people who did not stutter even, even after the therapy was over.
Researchers hope that this study can help people understand more about how different regions of the brain affect stuttering.
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