Fluency refers to the ease and flow of speech. There are two main components of fluency - linguistic fluency which refers to language skills, and speech fluency which refers to continuity, rate, duration, and effort of speech. Linguistic fluency includes skills like using complex syntax, large vocabulary, and pronouncing difficult sounds. Speech fluency disorders include stuttering, psychogenic stuttering, neurogenic stuttering, cluttering, and normal non-fluency in young children. Stuttering is characterized by repetitions, prolongations, and blocks in speech flow. Psychogenic and neurogenic stuttering have origins in emotional trauma or brain injury respectively. Cluttering involves a rapid irregular

1. FLUENCY
BY – ANANT ARUN
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT OF ASLP

2. CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
DEFINITION
COMPONENTS
FLUENCY DISORDER

3. INTRODUCTION
Fluency – derived from Latin word ‘Flure’
Fluent speaker - some one whose speech is easy and that flows from
word to word without effort
The speech flows easily and smoothly in terms of both sound and
information
There are no disruptions of the message and the listener can attend
to the message

4. DEFINITION
Fluency: “People who are fluent are so skilled in the performance of
speech and language behaviors that they don't need to put much
thought or energy into talking.“
( Stark Weather, 1987 )

5. COMPONENTS OF FLUENCY
 Starkweather (1987) suggests, - 2 components
Linguistic fluency (Language)
Syntactic
Semantic
Phonologic
Pragmatic
Speech Fluency
Continuity
Rate
Duration
Effort

6. LINGUISTIC FLUENCY (LANGUAGE)
Syntactically fluent: able to construct highly complex sentences using variety of
complex forms.
Semantically fluent: Speakers are readily able to possess large vocabularies.
Phonologically fluent: Speakers are able to pronounce long and complicated
sequence of sounds and syllables.
Pragmatically fluent: Make timely and appropriate verbal responses in a variety
of social and cultural contexts.

7. SPEECH FLUENCY
CONTINUITY
Speech is continuous if it flows without hesitation/stoppage/disfluencies
Pauses/hesitations – filled/unfilled pauses
Filled Pause - Neutral/meaningless sounds (‘um’, ‘er’, ‘uh’, ‘ah’)
Unfilled pause- silence
Goldman-Eiler (1968), Clarke (1971)
• Conventional pauses – used for emphasis or linguistic purpose
• Idiosyncratic pauses – uncertainty over word choice, style or syntax – more
common in spontaneous speech, longer, complex utterances

8. RATE
Refers to the speed in which the words are spoken
According to speaking task, there is considerable variability in rate in terms of
such factors as formality of speaking situation, time pressure,…
Rate is measured in terms of words or syllables per minute (WPM/SPM)
For Hindi-speaking adults, the mean overall speaking rate is 120 - 130
words/minute (wpm)

9. DURATION
Relates closely to the co articulation of the segments
The duration of CV of a language varies considerably with speech rate and
phonetic and linguistic context
Stressed syllables - longer than unstressed (Umeda, 1975)

10. EFFORT
It refers to the ease with which an act is performed
Stark weather (1987) distinguishes 2 types of effort:
- Physical effort (Muscle movement)
- Mental effort (Linguistic planning)
Mental effort: encoding process, difficult to measure
Physical effort : Refers to action in respiratory, articulatory and laryngeal
system.

11. FLUENCY DISORDER
STUTTERING
PSYCHOGENIC STUTTERING
NEUROGENIC STUTTERING
CLUTTERING
NORMAL NON FLUENCY (NNF)

12. STUTTERING
Stuttering is the most common fluency disorder , is an interruption in the flow
of speaking characterized by repetitions (speech , syllables , words , phrases ) ,
sound prolongations , blocks , interjections and revisions , which may affect the
rate & rhythm of speech .
These disfluencies may be accompanied by physical tension , negative reactions
, secondary behaviors & avoidance of sound , word or speaking situations .
ASHA 1993 / Yaruss 2004

13. PSYCHOGENIC STUTTERING
Psychogenic Stuttering is a type of stuttering, can be caused by emotional trauma
or problem with thought or reasoning.
( NIDCD – Fact Sheet Stuttering )

14. NEUROGENIC STUTTERING
Neurogenic stuttering is a type of fluency disorder in which a person has
difficulty in producing speech in a normal, smooth fashion. Individuals with
fluency disorders may have speech that sounds fragmented or halting, with
frequent interruptions and difficulty producing words without effort or struggle.
Neurogenic stuttering typically appears following some sort of injury or disease
to the central nervous system i.e. the brain and spinal cord, including cortex,
sub-cortex, cerebellar, and even the neural pathway regions.
( THE STUTTERING FOUNDATION )

15. CLUTTERING
Cluttering is a fluency disorder characterized by a rapid or irregular speaking rate
, excessive dys-fluencies & often other symptoms such as language or
phonological errors & attention deficits .
Characterized by repetitions of 6-10 units , poor concentrations , short attention
span , perceptual weakness , poorly organized thinking , jerky respiration ,
delayed speech / late talking .
ASHA 2000

16. NORMAL NON-FLUENCY
Normal non-fluency of speech between 2 - 7, with a heightened occurrence
between 2 ½ and 4 years.
(GUITAR 98)

17. THE END
THANK YOU

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