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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 08 Oct 2009
Time: 09:21:20 -0500
Remote Name: 157.182.15.121
Dear David, Cluttering is different from--but often coexists with--stuttering. There is no risk of one disorder causing the other. The definition of cluttering is less well accepted than that for stuttering. Forgive me to "tooting my own horn," but following is my most recent of several "lowest common denominator" definitions of cluttering. DEFINITION: Cluttering is a fluency disorder wherein segments of conversation(a) in the speaker’s native language(b) typically are perceived as too fast overall(c), too irregular(d), or both. The segments of rapid and/or irregular speech rate must further be accompanied by one or more of the following: (1) excessive “normal” disfluencies(e); (2) excessive collapsing(f) or deletion of syllables; and/or (3) abnormal pauses, syllable stress, or speech rhythm. NOTES: (a) Cluttering must occur in naturalistic conversation, but it need not occur even a majority of the time. Clear but isolated examples that exceed those observed in normal speakers are sufficient for a diagnosis. (b) This may also apply to the speaker’s mastered and habitual non-native language, especially in multilingual living environments. (c) This may be true even though syllable rates may not exceed those of normal speakers. (d) Synonyms for irregular rate include “jerky,” or “spurty.” (e) These disfluencies are often observed in smaller numbers in normal speakers and are typically not observed in stuttering. (f) Collapsing includes, but is not limited to, excessive shortening, “telescoping,” or “over-coarticulating” various syllables, especially in multisyllabic words. (ST. LOUIS & SCHULTE, IN PRESS) I hope this helps. Ken