whats this speech impediment called

[Dom Tuk]

Some people have a peculiarity when speaking. Like a person with a stammer stutters over a word, those affected by this condition, instead of stammering, close their eyes and sort of stammer their eyelids, so the words dont come out but the eyes are closed and blinking vigorously. It is difficult to explain but you see lots of people do it. What is it called?

[funkymoped]

mine is just a guess, but it could be a form of epilepsy.

there again it could just be that if you got a stammer, its easier to concentrate if you shut your eyes.

[Clanad]

According to A study done at the University of Minnesota, here in the U.S.:

Dysfluent speech refers to any speech that is by definition dysrhythmic, filled with inappropriate pauses, and is essentially a break in normal speech production. Also, the speech of people who stutter may be too rapid, or even overly slow in an attempt to mask the disorder. Repetitions are the most common core behaviors of stuttering, and repetitions may include repetitions of sounds, words, parts of words, or even phrases (C-c-can I I I I go go go go go to the buh-buh-buh bathroom). The prolongation of sounds is another core behavior of stuttering (e.g. sssssssssssound). Generally, these prolongations occur in the initial syllable of an utterance or a word, and rarely, if at all, happen at the end of the word (e.g. hospital-l-l-l).

Contd.

[Clanad]

Contd.

The final core behavior that is seldom recognized as stuttering by listeners is what is referred to as blocking. Blocking occurs when the person who stutters is attempting, with no positive results, to produce a sound, but is unable to. Physically, no air is able to pass through the vocal fold for phonation to occur, resulting in the vocal fold muscles to become tense and tightened up. Other facial muscles may also become tense during blocking. This results in the break up of words (e.g. st-st----------uttering). Secondary behaviors may also develop as the disorder progresses. These behaviors are also called anticipatory struggle behaviors because they are often used as a means to ease through a stuttering behavior or to hide the event. Some people who stutter can use these behaviors strategically to pretend as if they can speak fluently, but often these behaviors are painfully obvious and look quite inappropriate (e.g. a person who stutters clenches their eyes as they try to push out a word, they distort their countenance as they try to produce a sounds, or they stomp their feet when trying to speak). Some secondary behaviors include foot stamping, fist clenching, eye squinting, finger tapping, and a variety of other behaviors that the person who stutters can create...