Cluttering

How we can help people who clutter

Cluttering is also known as ‘speech organisation disorder’. As the name suggests, people with this disorder may have speech that is difficult to understand and often have rapid speech as well as erratic intonation. Individuals with this disorder may also include unrelated words in their sentences and may have unusual grammar and syntax patterns.

What is cluttering?

Cluttering is a type of language and fluency disorder. Patterns of thought become muddled upon speech production, resulting in an abnormal pattern of speech and often including breaks in normal speech production. People who suffer from this may also have difficulty in reading and writing. Awareness of this condition may not always be present, and attention and listening may also be affected.

What causes cluttering?

There are many different causes of cluttering. Some of these may be medical and therefore extremely individual. Side effects of certain medication as well as alcohol can also be a contributing factor of cluttering speech.

What problems caused by cluttering can SLT UK help with?

Speech and language therapy can help any of the problems caused by cluttering, including attention. listening, comprehension, expression, speech sound and general communication difficulties.

Speech and language therapy aims will be different for each individual and depend upon the level of difficulty experienced.

How does speech and language therapy help cluttering?

Speech and language therapy can help by improving a client’s communication skills and help them to develop coping strategies and management of their disorder. Speech and language therapy can also help to slow down their rate of speech. This may result in a client becoming more confident and therefore more fluent in their production of speech. A client may also improve attention and listening as a starting point for speech and language therapy.

Speech and language therapy may benefit those who clutter as their levels of anxiety and stress may reduce as their confidence grows. They may also be provided with more work and social opportunities as their communication improves.

What would speech and language therapy treatment for cluttering involve?

Speech and language therapy may include assessments, reviews, reports, therapy programmes, support groups, training, education and advice.

Specific speech and language therapy treatment for cluttering can include stuttering and fluency groups.

An initial assessment will be carried out by one of our speech and language therapists. This will highlight any worries and difficulties concerning communication and speech. An initial assessment will also provide a chance for you to share any concerns you may have, and allow you to discuss what you would like to work on and improve.

Summary

Cluttering is also known as ‘speech organisation disorder’ and happens when someone cannot get their thought processes out in a clear manner. This is because thought processes become muddled and distorted upon speech production. Speech and language therapy can help clients to slow down the rate of speech and cope with different attributes that cluttering can have on the production of speech.

If you feel you may benefit from speech and language therapy or would like any more information on our services please email office@slt.co.uk or call 0330 088 5643.