The recent release of Oscar--winning movie The King’s Speech in Taiwanese theaters has sparked local interest in speech impediments, a specialist from the Taiwan Speech-Language-Hearing Association said.
Hsiao Li-chun (蕭麗君), the association’s vice chairperson, said that although people believe speech impediments are common among children, not many are aware that adults, like King George VI, have the same likelihood of suffering the disorder.
“Most of my patients fall into either one of two groups: younger children or young adults who are about to graduate from universities and enter the job market,” Hsiao said.
“Adult patients have usually neglected the problem from childhood and will not seek professional help unless they are required by certain social situations to speak more fluently,” she said, noting that college students come voluntarily for treatment when they need to pass an oral examination to graduate.
Asked whether adult patients are able to overcome stuttering through therapy, Hsiao cautioned that it depends on the patient.
“Once the patient stops being nervous about speaking, he or she can progress faster, though there is no guarantee that stuttering won’t happen again,” Hsiao said.
“Stuttering is complex in that it can have both physical and mental causes,” she said.
“Lack of confidence and fear of embarrassment, for example, could weaken the patient’s will to initiate a conversation. And a lack of practice in turn makes the patient feel low in self-esteem,” the therapist said.
Hsiao said parents should not hesitate to send their stuttering children to speech clinics because early intervention could help them avoid speech problems later in life.
Treatment for speech disorders is subsidized by the national health insurance system. A patient can attend up to six therapy sessions for just NT$460.
The number of Taiwanese suffering from speech disorders is not clear owing to a lack of census data, but Hsiao cited a foreign study that found about 1 percent of the global population suffers from such problems.
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