Understanding Fluency and its Disorders in Speech

Fluency is defined as “the continuity, smoothness, rate, and/or effort with which phonologic, lexical, morphologic, and/or syntactic language units are spoken.” (ASHA) That is, fluency shows one’s proficiency in a language. If someone is learning a new language he will not be fluent. However, a mother tongue is fluent. The speaker knows sufficient information about the language to allow him to speak in fast, rich language. Fluency disorders are disruptive in the fluency of speech. Their characteristics include overt characteristics (core, or primary, behaviors, and accessory, or secondary, behaviors) and covert characteristics such as attitudes and emotions. Although covert characteristics are very straightforward, overt characteristics need further explanations. Primary behaviors include part-word repetitions, audible and inaudible sound prolongations, and more. That is, they are disrupters within the speech

Both are defined as a difficulty in planning and programming movement for speech or that result from the impairment of the ability of the muscles to produce speech because they are weak, paralyzed, or uncoordinated.This is where dysarthria comes into play, but this will be discussed in the next paragraph. These disorders are characterized by speech and language development difficulties such as Respiration, Phonation, Resonance, Articulation, and Prosody. Inconsistent errors may occur, lengthened and disrupted coarticulatory transitions, and inappropriate prosody. An example for a disease that can cause this type of disorder is Parkinson’s which affects the inter-system of speech production. Etiologies of this disorder is explained, yet will be clarified now. Any injury to the nervous system that occurs before, at the time, or shortly after birth, can cause AOS. In other words, a knot etiology of this disorder is cerebral