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From: Florence Myers
Date: 22 Apr 2010
Time: 07:50:31 -0500
Remote Name: 68.195.168.7
Robert, I seem to have lost my previous draft of my response. So let me reply again, and I hope my earlier reply does not surface. Yes, cluttering is often misdiagnosed, as especially in individuals who have both stuttering and cluttering. At least three of the individuals on the SFA dvd CLUTTERING had been misdiagnosed earlier "in their clinical life." Various people have cited reasons for underdiagnosis. One possible reason that to my knowledge has not been cited is that I personally feel that individuals on the mild end of the cluttering spectrum may be perceived as very extroverted, with lots of things to say and not too self-conscious especially if they are not aware of their cluttering! This is the type of individual whom a hostess would love to have at her social gathering as they may be "the life of the party"! For this reason, these individuals--though talking faster with occasionally compromised speech intelligibility--may not "stand out" as much in terms of speech impairment as, say, the behaviors of stuttering. So, because of not being aware of one's cluttering and possibly friends and associates "override" the element of occasional spurty speech in favor of the perception of the extroverted nature of cluttering (i.e., not holding back in talk and interactions)----we have an underdiagnosis. Time through epidemiological research will tell the tale about incidence and prevalence. But we are aware that we need to come to a better grip on the definition of cluttering before yielding valid and reliable incidence/prevalence figures. As to the term "cluttering" -- great point. But easier said than done, I suppose. For folks who know about cluttering, the term is 'cluttering.' If we were to name the phenonmenon after someone, would it be the modern founders of this phenomenon....the "Weiss Syndrome"? Thanks for your question and insights!