Affective and Cognitive Symptoms

The affective and cognitive symptoms associated with stuttering develop over a period of time and are the result of communication breakdowns and penalties (i.e., inability to say things, ridicule by others, etc.) suffered by the person who stutters. These breakdowns and penalties cause many people who stutter to:

1. develop word and situation fears
2. begin to avoid feared words and situations
3. develop secondary mannerisms, such as eye blinks, foot tapping, head jerks, etc. to escape from, or avoid, stuttering
4. use interjections, such as "let's see, you know, uh" as starters to make the initiation of speech easier
5. use interjections, such as "well, you know, like" as means of postponing a word on which they believe they will stutter until they believe they will be able to say it without stuttering

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Last revised: 11-03-08