


Craig Miller
'The King's Speech' portrays stuttering treatments

Q: Is "The King's Speech," the movie chronicling the relationship between England's King George VI and his speech therapist, an accurate portrayal of stuttering? A: Yes, the creators of the movie "The King's Speech" have done their homework. In stuttering (or stammering -- which may be the more common term in England), the speaker has trouble producing flowing speech. The "disfluency" may be repetition or prolongation of a sound. There may be unusual pauses at the beginning of words or syllables. Or the speaking rhythm may be unusual. Often, the person has secondary "struggling" behaviors, a consequence of the effort associated with...