Friday, 21 October 2011

International Stammering Awareness Day - Saturday 22nd October 2011



Stand up to stammering with BootsWebMD.com

International Stammering Awareness Day - Saturday 22nd October 2011

Did you know?

• Stammering affects approximately 109,000 children between the ages of 5-16, and 459,000 adults, which is 1% of the adult population (1)

• Stammering is best addressed in early childhood because delaying treatment until school age can risk exposing children to serious social and psychological effects of chronic and intractable stuttering,(2) developing specific fears of certain sounds, words and situations (3)



Experts don't know for sure what causes stammering but most believe that the speech disorder occurs as the result of a variety of factors including genetics, developmental stammering and neurological factors (4)



BootsWebMD.com has a wealth of information on the risk factors of stammering occuring, treatments, and how to speak to stammer sufferers, especially for parents who have concerns. It is not uncommon for a child between the ages of 2 and 5 to have a period of temporary stammering. This is a crucial time of speech and language development. Visit the children’s health guide on how to help a stammering child here: http://www.webmd.boots.com/children/guide/how-to-help-stammering-child



What is stammering?

Stammering, which is also known as stuttering and ‘disfluency’, is a speech disorder. There are two main types of stammer:

• Developmental - the most common and widely recognised type of stammering. It develops during childhood as a child learns to speak, usually beginning around the age of three-and-a-half years

• Acquired or late-onset - this can occur in adults as the result of a severe head injury, stroke or progressive neurological disease (disease affecting the nerves). It can also be caused by certain drugs or medication, or psychological or emotional trauma. (5)



About BootsWebMD.com

BootsWebMD.com is a world-class online health website created in partnership with US-based WebMD, one of the world’s largest and most experienced brand of online health information. The creation of BootsWebMD.com is a collaboration which uses the expertise of the National Health Service from NHS Choices, the digital content of the British Medical Journal (BMJ Best Treatments), a world leading online health information site WebMD and Boots, one of the UK’s most trusted pharmacy-led high street brand.



WebMD is a leading provider of health information services, serving consumers, physicians, healthcare professionals, employers, and health plans through our public and private online portals and health-focused publications.



The BootsWebMD.com health website features:

• Detailed information on a range of illnesses and health conditions

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