Lost for words

The King’s Speech has taken the world by storm, claiming four Academy Awards including the award for Best Film, Best Director for Tom Hooper, Best Actor for Colin Firth and Best Original Screenplay for David Seidler.

The English period drama is the story of King George VI’s struggle with a speech defect which caused him to stutter severely, and the relationship with his therapist.

Whilst a number of films have exploited the humour of speech defects – from Porky Pig’s “Th-th-th-th-that’s all folks!” to Michael Palin’s portrayal of Ken Pile in A Fish Called Wanda – no film has ever tackled the issue of speech defects with as much unflinching proximity as The King’s Speech.

Screenwriter David Seidler was a sufferer himself, which is clear from the opening scene, a harrowing portrayal of the titular royal’s attempt at a speech during the 1925 closing ceremony of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium.

Hearing the king on the radio gave Siedler courage, and a biopic on his role model was a dream project for the playwright and TV writer for a long time. He asked for the Queen Mother’s blessing to make the film, and though the monarch approved of the idea, she laid down one condition: Siedler is to wait until after her death before production could begin, which delayed the project for 30 years.

I stammered myself as a child, and the entire film made me wince as the unwitting monarch stumbled over difficult Cs and Ps and stood in awkward silence in the middle of a sentence, a feeling that was all too familiar.

Speech Language Pathologist and lecturer at the University of Malta in Fluency disorders Dr Joseph Agius defines stuttering as a speech disorder where speech flow is interrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables and word phrases as well as involuntary silences where the speaker is unable to produce sounds.

However, he is quick to point out that this is a definition taken from the perspective of a person who is observing the person who stutters. The emotions facing the sufferer far outweigh the problems of interrupted speech.

“Fear, anxiety and avoidance are all emotions involved with a person with this speech defect,” Agius says.

“Severity of the condition is also difficult to define. One person may stutter through 50% of his speech, though have no emotional problems associated with it and is happy to answer the phone or come into contact with other people. Another person may only stutter through 2% of his speech but will avoid all contact with other people in case he begins to stutter. Which of the two has the more severe case?

“In diagnosing and treating a condition we try to analyse the impact the condition has on the life of the person rather than just on the physical aspects.”

Stuttering affects approximately 1% of the population, which amounts to 68 million people worldwide. However 5% of children stutter, though for 4% this is only a phase and they recover with help and support. For that 1%, however, stuttering remains a reality throughout adulthood and coping mechanisms need to be found. The ratio of males to females suffering from stuttering is four to one.

Ivan Gaffiero, who organises beauty pageants, has had a stammer since he was nine years old. “I don’t find any particular words or sounds difficult to pronounce, however when I’m taking part in a conversation I sometimes develop a stutter and this gets worse if I am nervous or excited.

“When I was a child I was deeply affected by my speech impediment, especially at school when the other children laughed at me. It was particularly difficult when the teacher asked me to read out loud.

“However when I turned 18 things changed. I began to sing in festivals and to present shows and I became a lot more confident about the way that I am. When I am in front of a camera I don’t stammer at all, though unfortunately, as soon as I’m out of the limelight, the stammer returns.

“People have been a lot more understanding and I think it’s because there is a little bit more awareness in Malta now, as I’ve often spoken about this problem on TV. The only problem that persists till today is my fear of talking over the telephone. That is the only thing that still gets to me.”

In the past, stuttering was considered to be a sign of inferior intelligence. This myth has obviously been dispelled today, and a number of very successful people suffer from this disability.

When Dr Agius was practicing in the USA, he came across a young man who had a severe stutter, to the point he was nicknamed “Joseph Impedimento” and because of his troubled speech, he wanted to become a footballer in order to avoid speaking altogether. However the nuns at the school he went to encouraged him to keep up with his education, and he eventually graduated as a lawyer, then a senator and went on to become the Vice President of the United States. Joe Biden still stutters today.

Other famous people who stutter include Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Tiger Woods, Winstin Churchill, Prince Albert of Monaco, Marilyn Monroe and Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric.

I was surprised to see two actors on the list, as I have watched a number of their films and have never noticed a stutter. Agius goes on to explain that sufferers do not stutter when using automatic speech.

“A person will not stutter when they sing or recite nursery rhymes, or when repeating something someone else said. The problem arises when a thought has to be processed and then something said as a result.

“Latest research in brain imaging of adults who stutter show an over-activation of the right side of the brain, though the language centre is located on the left side of the brain, signifying that people who stutter use a different part of their brain that people who don’t.”

Similarly, a person will not stutter when they are talking to themselves. The more pressure there is on the person to be fluent, the more the situation seems to be aggravated.

The exact etiology is unknown, although recent research has identified three genes that can be linked to stuttering.

 “60% of stutterers have a family member who also stutters, however there are also environmental factors that have a role to play; trauma, fast lifestyles and academic pressure have been known to trigger stammering, though it likely to be the result of a number of factors put together.”

Therapeutic methods differ, depending on the age and on the individual. Pre-schoolers often go through therapy with parents, where techniques on how to handle children with a stutter are taught to parents as well as children.

Mechanics of speech are dealt with, such as breathing, modifying speech and prolonging sounds, however Agius says that this is not the ultimate aim of the therapy sessions.

“We work a lot on attitude and getting the person to cope emotionally with the problem. I once worked with an eight year old who had a severe stutter and in a few years, he was very close to fluent. Ten years later his mother called saying her boy was depressed and when he came back to me I couldn’t understand why he was feeling the way he was as he was so fluent. It was when someone compared the condition to anorexia I finally understood.

“An anorexic person thinks that they are fat no matter how thin they appear to be. A person with a speech defect can have low self-esteem despite being fluent. Nowadays I focus more attention on getting the person to come to terms with the problem rather than focusing on the mechanics.”

In adults, stuttering becomes more severe when they are trying to cover up the situation. Agius therefore advises sufferers to talk about the problem despite it being a bit of a taboo subject, as this takes pressure off and allows them to speak more fluently.

“For things like oral exams or job interviews, I issue certificates to say that the person has a stammer and very often, performance is much better than if the person is trying to cover up the problem. It just makes everyone more comfortable – both speaker and listener.”

Over 400 children and adults make use of Speech Language clinics within the Public Health Service in Malta every year. To locate a speech language pathologist one may contact the Speech Language Department by telephone on 21230822 or by e-mail on [email protected]