What is Cluttering?

Most people have probably heard of the term stuttering. Stuttering is a widely known disorder that most of the population has probably learned about, if not come across in real life. However, stuttering is not the only disorder that a person may experience when it comes to their speech fluency. Cluttering is another difficulty that can affect the fluency of an individual’s speech. Stuttering and cluttering are both considered fluency disorders but are not the same.

Cluttering: 
According to the American Speech and Hearing Association (AHSA), cluttering is a fluency disorder characterized by a rate of speech that is abnormally fast, jerky and/or irregular. Individuals who clutter may experience:

• An excessive number of disfluencies that are not typically seen in people who stutter
• The inclusion of pauses in their speech
• The use of unusual stress and rhyme patterns 
• An inappropriate and abundant number of sound omissions and/or syllable reductions, especially in longer utterances

A person who clutters may be difficult to understand and comprehend as a result of their rapid rate of speech and may experience clarity and fluency issues without being aware of their difficulties. Speech pathologists are trained to differentiate between stuttering and cluttering, as well as treat each disorder appropriately. 

– Sarah W.

Reference:

St. Louis, K. O., Raphael, L. J., Myers, F. L., & Bakker, K. (2003). Cluttering Updated. ASHA Leader, 8(21), 4–22. https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.FTR1.08212003.4

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (n.d.). Fluency Disorders (Practice Portal).
www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/fluency-disorders/.