Explain the differences between organic and behavioral theories of stuttering

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Organic theories focus on the biological or physiological explanation for the onset of stuttering. It is believed that the child who stutters is born with some organic or biological deficit. One organic theory comes from Orton and Travis. Their theory is known as the theory of cerebral dominance. This states that people who stutter do not exhibit cerebral dominance. Therefore, the tongue and other parts of the speech system are sent instructions from both hemispheres, which results in asynchronous movements. Behavioral theories view stuttering as a learned behavior. All children produce similar speech patterns, such as repetitions and hesitations and some parents of these children are reportedly more aware of their child's speech breakdowns. As a result, the child theoretically reacts to his or her parents or caretakers reaction by attempting to change their speech behavior. These attempts to change behavior result in stuttering. One particular theory is called the diagnosogenic theory (Johnson) which stated that if the child is labeled as a stutterer than it causes the child to stutter.