The Neuroscience of Stammering

This lecture will provide brief revision of neuroscience generally, and use this knowledge to develop an understanding of why we stammer.

Michel will demystify neuroscience and take you beyond merely looking at colourful blobs and brainwaves. While the colourful blobs will certainly be there, much of the lecture will focus on understanding what they mean, and more importantly what they mean for brains that stammer and the people who have them.

Stammering is heritable, some people just have brains that work that way. When they speak sometimes they speak with hesitations, prolongations, or repetitions that they cannot control. The fact that their brains work differently is an excellent opportunity for us to learn more about how the brain controls speech. Stammering even has a special relationship with singing: it’s hard to stammer when you sing. We can learn a lot by trying to understand why!

People who stammer sometimes find it inconvenient and they may try to reduce their stammering with speech therapy. Sometimes the therapies even work. However, much more often they find the way that people treat them because of their stammer is a bigger problem. There is growing discussion that they probably should not have to have speech therapy is they don’t want it. It may be a kinder society that simply accepts them as they are and accommodates stammering as a form of disability. We will discuss these contemporary social issues as well as their practical implications for the lives of people who stammer.