Why Does Your Child Stutter, and How to Treat Stuttering in Your Child

Each and every child is born having a genetic makeup that contributes to his or her probability of stuttering. To study to speak fluently, a child's brain must create many different neural circuits, and these circuits ought to interact in incredibly precise and rapid approaches. Stuttering emerges in childhood as a symptom that the brain's neural circuits for speech are not getting wired commonly. Because of this, early intervention is critical, because by shaping the child's experience, the ongoing wiring procedure within the child's rapidly developing brain might be altered for the better. The longer the stuttering symptoms persist in early childhood, the more challenging it can be to modify the brain's wiring, and stuttering becomes a chronic, lifelong issue.

Stuttering can emerge at any childhood stage, but most commonly between the ages of two and five when about one in twenty children stutter. This obviously coincides with a period characterized by the rapid development of language capabilities. At first it affects twice as many boys as girls. Later, as more girls than boys recover, boys who stutter outnumber girls who stutter by as many as five to 1. Stuttering could emerge gradually, but often develops all of a sudden. Early Intervention provides a high likelihood of recovery. For young children small modifications in the speaking and listening atmosphere within the family household and in school can reduce anxiety levels and support fluency by making the children feel supported.

In older children stuttering could be more than just a speech difficulty. Feelings concerning the stutter as well as other psychological aspects such as self-esteem and emotional pressure may worsen the stuttering difficulty.

It was once thought that parents' behaviour caused stuttering in the child. Now research proves that parents do not cause stuttering and that this old fashioned view was incorrect, though it may well nevertheless be held by some uninformed folks and trigger considerable distress for parents. Nevertheless, we do know that parents play a very important role in assisting their children to stop stuttering. By managing the speaking and listening environment, parents are able to decrease the emotional impact of stuttering on children, eventually completely treating stuttering in their children.

There are many ways to treat stuttering in children. Speech language pathologists are increasingly recommending stuttering support groups as an integral part of speech therapy. Stuttering support groups are a proven way to build self-confidence, practice speaking in a safe environment, and explore new ways to cope with stuttering.

End the Procrastination - Find an Effective Fluency Technique and Use It

End the Procrastination Today

Let today be the end of procrastination of doing something about your stutter / stammer. How many times have you said to yourself, "I really have to do something about my stuttering, it's driving me crazy and controlling my life."? How many times have you set a plan in place to do something about it, only to see a good idea fall by the wayside in a short time? There are many reasons why individual goals to act on your stuttering are eroded over time. These can be:

Poor commitment Lack of support Lack of understanding from others Poor quality therapy technique Poor motivation levels Lack of self-belief Fear of failure

Perhaps you could sit and think about your previous goals to improve or change the way you are and evaluate why they failed to meet expectations. If the reason/s for not consistently using your fluency technique are any of the above, then in terms of overcoming your stutter, let's work through them.

Commitment

Originally you came up with a good idea to do something about your fluency, so your original commitment or willingness to act was there and probably strong. Think about what you committed to. Was it realistic and was it something that you could reasonably achieve within a time frame? Were you trying to achieve too much too soon? Did you expect to see major changes without the framework of good self-belief, great technique and friendly support? You see, all the reasons we fail to achieve our fluency goals are entangled and become such an anchor to our road to recovery that, in most cases, we drop the ball and fail.

Write your ideas for self-improvement down and make sure they are realistic, things that you can fairly easily achieve on a daily basis. Write down and highlight small gains and successes. Celebrate and acknowledge each achievement, no matter how small, because over time they will swell to see real change for the best.

Support

When you think of your original plan it is often easy to dismiss the importance of others. It is important to surround yourself with like-minded people, people who are trying to improve their situation in similar ways to yourself. Seek out support groups like the Australian Speak Easy Association, British Stammering Association, Toastmasters and 'practice buddies' via Skype around the world. These groups of people will help you achieve your fluency goals both short and long term.

Understanding

Just get yourself out there. If people don't know what you are trying to achieve with your fluency, then of course there will be a lack of understanding from others. Tell people what you are trying to achieve. Start with the people you know well, your family and loved ones. Their understanding and support will help you maintain your own focus on your goals.

Technique

Of course the best and most committed individual without a proven, speech pathology-backed technique would be hard-pressed to achieve success. Seek out the very best evidence-based technique, something that you know works, and commit to it. Be positive about it and use it. Practise at every opportunity and allow yourself the time to practise. Never allow your new technique to become a negative. You know your new technique works. You have had success with the technique and it has provided you with a tool for the management of your fluency. Even if you go through rough periods, it is not the fault of the technique. In many ways, negative thinking drives our dysfluency and eats away at many positive changes we set in place.

Poor Motivation, Lack of Self-Belief and Fear of Failure

These are all cognitive issues. Once you set in place a wonderful fluency technique, then it is important to consider the cognitive processes. 'Cognition' means 'the act or process of knowing; perception'. Cognitive behaviour involves our thinking. Individual perceptions can vary considerably. How one person perceives an issue can be very different to the next person. The act of stuttering over many years can cause distorted perceptions about yourself and others. If this type of thinking is not addressed then the individual can go through life with a set of negative beliefs about him/herself in relation to the stuttering. Current research shows that the use of cognitive treatment as part of stuttering therapy helps to maximise success.

Let today be the end of procrastination of doing something about your stutter / stammer.

New Facebook Subscribe Button for Your Website

Facebook has brought website owners another great way to reach out to their readers that makes it easy to share and discover new content. The new Subscribe button from Facebook makes it possible for any website to have a strong following and readership.

In the past, Facebook was only for two-sided connections between mutual friends. Now, the social network has created a way for a single-sided connection. The Subscribe feature on Facebook works similarly to Google+ and Twitter. Users can track the public updates of anyone's feed that they subscribe to without having to add that person as a friend. With this, users do not have to be approved by the other person to view posts.

With the newly updated Subscribe button, website owners can enable readers to subscribe to his or her Facebook News Feed simply by clicking the button. Users will then be able to keep up with any new posts added on Facebook by the people they are subscribed to. This is a great step up from the Facebook commenting system that website owners could add to their site. With that feature, one needed a high number of comment posters in order to get more subscribers.

The Subscribe button is a lot like the Like button, in that it allows readers to choose what content will be seen on their Facebook feed. Clicking the "Like" button on a website will bookmark the page on a person's social networking profile. With the Subscribe button, the author's public posts will appear in each subscriber's Facebook feed.

It is easy to add the Facebook Subscribe button to your own website. It can be done with an Extended Facebook Markup Language code, and iframe, or an HTML5-compliant markup. There is a reference guide on Facebook that will give you additional information about the functionality of the button and the different layout styles.

There are already a lot of well-known websites which have incorporated the Subscribe button to their pages for authors and contributors, such as the Washington Post and Time.

While there is no distinction between posts that are intended for subscribers and those that are only meant for friends, there is an important advantage that comes with the Facebook Subscribe button over Google Circles and Twitter follows. That is, that simply subscribing to your feed will be posted on a person's News Feed. This can result in many more subscribers for your website simply because your subscribers' friends will see that they have chosen to follow you.

Being able to snag Facebook subscribers right from your own website gives you a real edge. You will be able to reach a broader audience through each subscriber as well as hold onto your current fans by maintaining a link with them through your public posts. This added feature on Facebook has given users what was once only available through Twitter- one-way social connectivity.

Have you started subscribing to others with the help of the new Facebook Subscribe button? Will you be adding it to your own website or blog? Have you seen a boost in your readership since you added the Subscribe button? Share with us!

A Little Perfection of Web Design Is All That Is Needed

It is possible to find several organizations using similar products or service for the same purpose. At times this could be due to the benefits derived from the same product. In such situations what makes a firm using the same product stand out is the level of perfection that will create an enormous result. Virtually all organizations have their own websites the only difference is that there are those which indicate that there was an extra job done on it to augment its general purpose.

Most large organizations have an established IT department which is charged with the responsibility of handling all organizational issues relating to technology. The staffs may possess the necessary qualifications but sometimes it is advisable to let a professional handle the sensitive areas. This is a consideration that should be made especially if there are higher expectations by the organization from the activity to be undertaken by the expert. It is important to outsource for services if what it is to achieve goes beyond the daily operation and maintenance of the systems of the firm.

Since such services may be costly to the organization it is important to get the best service provider in the market. This should be in terms of competitive pricing and the ability of the hired company to offer services as is required. The services of the outsourced firm are what will bring out a vivid difference between your organization and that of a competitor. The web design firm is one of the experts that give expertise solution to the challenges witnessed on your web page. You and your rivals could be having organization websites but with high level of perfection the competitor may not realize the streaming of internet users similar to that in that of your firm.

Getting hold of the services of these experienced technicians has been made simple due to the existence of internet where they have listed all their services. All that is needed is for a client to contact them through email or direct chatting on their websites. The nature of services they offer may not necessarily require them to be within a reachable location.

Another way of contacting them is by making a phone call to their offices. The contact details can be obtained from business directories which nowadays exist in various coverage that depend on the type of the service or product that a firm deals in. If their offices are near you then paying them a visit will help the expert in determining what is good for your organization based on the details provided for.

Malpractice Lawyer - When Would You Need One?

It can be incredibly difficult to come to terms with the fact that your doctor has made a mistake and even more so when it comes to confronting your health care provider about this mistake. What if your case isn't solid? Are you just wasting money on malpractice lawyer fees for nothing? What will this lawsuit do to your relationship with your doctor? These questions often haunt people that have suffered from medical negligence. It's difficult to face someone that you trusted with your life and limb, perhaps a close friend, and tell them they were negligent.

There is a certain standard of care that is professionally accepted in the medical community and if your health care provider isn't adhering to this standard you may have a case. It must be something specific that doesn't meet the standard of care for there to be a case. A medical technician with unsanitary instruments or perhaps one using those instruments incorrectly is a simple example of not meeting a professional standard of care. A rude nurse does not qualify as misconduct for not meeting the standard of care, but a misdiagnosis by a doctor does qualify. If you have experienced this problem with your health care provider, your case must still satisfy two other requirements before you call up a malpractice lawyer.

In addition, any breach of the standard of care must result in injury to the claimant in order to be unprofessional conduct. There must be a direct link between that breach of the standard of care and the resulting injury. An injury itself is not unprofessional conduct if the standard of care that wasn't met didn't result in that injury. If a doctor misdiagnosed you and carried out surgery that wasn't necessary then your case is solid as a rock. However, if a doctor misreads your lab results for cholesterol and you don't have a heart attack then no reputable malpractice lawyer will take your case.

Finally, the injury sustained from a lack of professionally standard care must have resulted in significant damages. In each specific case, the term significant damages, basically means whether or not the resulting compensation in court is more than the cost of a malpractice lawyer. Only medical negligence cases that result in either, unusual pain, suffering, hardship, ongoing medical bills, disability, or loss of income will incur the necessary damages to fund a proper litigation.

If your experience meets all three of the above criteria then you should consult a malpractice lawyer. Even if your health care provider acknowledges the mistake and apologizes, you should still pursue them for negligence for the sake of your own financial well being as well as to maintain a professional standard of care that other patients can enjoy.

Does Having Health Insurance Save Lives? Or Why The Press Is Clueless About How Healthcare Works

"Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

A recent study from Oregon made headlines by demonstrating a decreased death rate for Medicaid patients compared to the uninsured. However, those who actually read the study were more impressed by the relatively small impact such insurance made. The perplexing fact is that having health coverage of any kind makes very little difference in mortality. Although people with some sort of insurance feel better about their health, more concrete measures of improvement are lacking. Megan McArdle discusses the issue at great length, and emphasizes that the political biases of the writer seem to be the most important factor in how the data is interpreted.

The most important finding these studies demonstrate is that reporters have no clue about how medical care is actually provided. People without insurance get healthcare, and the quality is often little different from the rich and famous. The uninsured go to emergency rooms, and are treated, without regard for their ability to pay. Patients lacking coverage get their gallbladders removed, their pneumonia treated, and their cardiac stents placed. Hospitals in this country do not turn away acutely ill individuals, and the services provided are performed by the same physicians that treat the insured patients. The poor may not get immediate hip replacements, twenty injections for back pain, or 50 episodes of psychotherapy for their depression, but they are not dying in the streets. Furthermore, they are not over-treated or subjected to marginally effective or dangerous therapies for equivocal complaints. Even those with chronic medical problems, such as cancer or AIDS, eventually obtain Medicaid coverage, and receive care.

Furthermore, I have said previously, much "preventive" medicine is overrated. The number of lives saved by cancer screening is relatively small. Even untreated high blood pressure and cholesterol don't kill many people before Medicare eligibility. Most serious medical problems soon become manifest, which brings patients into the healthcare system, usually through emergency rooms.

This safety net for the uninsured is either not understood or ignored by the authors of the study, the press, and our politicians. The care is erratic, inconsistent, and sometimes substandard, but the sick are not barred from emergency rooms. These services are rendered for free by those very physicians who are universally castigated for their greed and avarice.(up to 20 percent of the care I gave was not compensated). The present system subsidizes this care, through higher fees for people with actual insurance or Medicare, and by additional capacity in the healthcare system.

Thus, the claims about the uninsured being completely unable to obtain medical care are simply not true. The press, politicians, and reformers who rail about these may not be malicious or incompetent, but they certainly are clueless.