Aetiology and treatInent of stuttering

The Two-Pole Centre Theory can explain the aetiology and treatment of stuttering. Phonation for speech is controlled by the two-pole centre, which consists of the cerebral cortex and the cerebral subcortex. There are three different levels: the cerebral cortex level, the thalanzic brain level and the medullary level. The cerebral cortex controls any forms of phonation (e.g. singing, reading, vocal imitation) except habitual phonation. Human emotion is under thalamic control. It is the interaction of the cortex, the subcortex and the thalamic brain that produces the psychological problem for stutterers, the development of stuttering, and the auxiliary actions of stutterers when they are speaking. Our clinic data (over 1000 cases) shows that in the overwhelming majority of cases (87.5%) stuttering originates from imitating other stutterers. This paper suggests that speech adaptation should proceed by establishing the conditional reflex controlled under the cerebral subcortex. The cortex controls only the content of thought, without controlling the phonation itself Habitual phonation is a kind of reflex action that is not controlled by the cerebral cortex. Most of the time it is possible for stutterers to maintain the beneficial effects of treatment by themselves. Many treatments for stuttering are equally successful. The phonatory method we use varies from individual to individual.