They include:
- Having a relative with the disorder
- Brain injury that triggers the need to save things
- Traumatic life event
- Mental disorders such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Uncontrollable buying habits
- Inability to pass up free items such as coupons and flyers
What is cluttering?
What is cluttering? Cluttering is a type of language and fluency disorder. Patterns of thought become muddled upon speech production, resulting in an abnormal pattern of speech and often including breaks in normal speech production. People who suffer from this may also have difficulty in reading and writing.
Why do people clutter when they talk?
Some experts believe that cluttering is caused by abnormal functioning in the area of the brain that controls speech rate, language-based speech planning, and fluency behaviors. There is emerging evidence that suggests cluttering has a genetic component too, which supports the abnormal brain function theory.
What causes cluttering speech disorder?
There are no known causes of cluttering speech disorder. However, there are a bunch of scientific theories that attempt to explain the reason for cluttering speech. Some professionals attribute cluttering to an abnormal functioning Broca’s area (the speech center of the brain).
How do you know if you have a cluttering problem?
How do you know if you or someone else has a cluttering problem? Like stuttering, cluttering is a fluency disorder; but, the two disorders are not the same. Cluttering involves speech that sounds rapid, unclear and/or disorganized.
What causes cluttering in speech?
Given that cluttering may co-occur with other disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), having any of these disorders may be a risk factor; however, not all individuals with these disorders also exhibit cluttering.
What is cluttering a symptom of?
One of the most famous fluency disorders is stuttering. A "fluency disorder" is best described as a disorder which impacts the flow and rate of speech. Cluttering is also a fluency disorder and it affects how a person's speech is perceived by listeners.
Is cluttering neurological?
Abstract. Background: Cluttering is a fluency disorder characterised by overly rapid or jerky speech patterns that compromise intelligibility. The neural correlates of cluttering are unknown but theoretical accounts implicate the basal ganglia and medial prefrontal cortex.
How do you treat cluttering?
Treating ClutteringSlowing Rate. Slowing, more than any other goal, can be effective in ameliorating the entire range of cluttering symptoms. ... Heightening Monitoring. ... Using Clear Articulation. ... Using Acceptable, Organized Language. ... Interacting with Listeners. ... Speaking Naturally. ... Reducing Excessive Disfluencies.
Is cluttering curable?
Many people who clutter are initially skeptical that therapy can help. Regardless of age, over time they come to see that learning strategies to tune in and monitor their speech can be helpful. Since most cluttering symptoms resolve through simple adjustments such as rate, prognosis for improvement is good.
Is cluttering speech a disability?
More recent descriptions of cluttering emphasize an hereditary or constitutional central nervous system disability affecting all modalities of communication and general behavior (Freund, 1952; 1970). The syndrome may be more adequately defined when viewed as a complex of learning disabilities.
What does clutter say about a person?
Clutter in the living room might suggest blockages in your social life, as well as your relationship with yourself, while a cluttered bedroom might relate to issues surrounding your sexual self, fears of intimacy or gender roles.
Are clutter and trauma related?
In most cases, this clutter is directly linked to traumatic events. Clutter could stem from the fear of letting go. This would be especially the case if a person grew up during or shortly after a time of war when people did not have much and had to use everything they had until it fell apart.
Does clutter affect your mental health?
One of the primary ways that clutter affects your mental health is that cluttered spaces make you feel more stressed. Studies show that people who describe their house as cluttered tend to have higher levels of the stress hormone known as cortisol.
What is cluttering vs stuttering?
Stuttering: Demonstrates a slower rate of speech, usually as a result of trying to compensate for stuttering. Cluttering: A slower rate of speech is central to the issue and often not intentional.
How do you deal with cluttering speech?
When people clutter, they often speak very quickly or with an irregular rate (adding extra pauses). This makes it very hard for the listener to understand. When this happens, you can use a strategy called slow speech. To do this, you will use an overly-slow rate to make sure you don't speed up again.
How many people have cluttering?
One in Four Americans Has a Clutter Problem — And Could Be Sitting on Some Serious Cash.
Is cluttering a disorder?
Cluttering is a speech and communication disorder that has also been described as a fluency disorder. It is defined as: Cluttering is a fluency disorder characterized by a rate that is perceived to be abnormally rapid, irregular, or both for the speaker (although measured syllable rates may not exceed normal limits).
What is the difference between cluttering and stuttering?
Stuttering: Demonstrates a slower rate of speech, usually as a result of trying to compensate for stuttering. Cluttering: A slower rate of speech is central to the issue and often not intentional.
What are articulation disorders?
Articulation disorders: An articulation disorder is the inability to say certain speech sounds correctly beyond the age when the sound is typically learned. Speech sounds may be dropped, added, distorted or substituted.
How many people have cluttering?
One in Four Americans Has a Clutter Problem — And Could Be Sitting on Some Serious Cash.
How to stay clutter free?
Once you've got your routine down, you'll be on auto-pilot when it comes to staying clutter-free. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Do a daily clutter sweep (about 15 minutes) throughout your house. Have a weekly routine, including meal planning and cleaning your house room by room throughout the week.
What is a clutter buster?
The Spruce / Margot Cavin. Clutter busters are the small tools you use to control the stuff around your house. Trays, bins, baskets, jars, and hooks are all excellent tweaks to corral everyday clutter. Use these containers to group like items together so they're easy to find.
Does clutter cause stress?
Just about every home has some clutter—even if it’s contained behind closed closet doors or tucked away in a garage, basement, or attic. You know where your clutter lurks, and even if it's not visible, it could be causing you stress. It's time to eliminate the burden clutter brings by getting to the root of why you still have it.
Is clutter bad for you?
You may see other people's clutter and compare it to yours. Your clutter may not be so bad after all. But just because your best friend's house is filled with stuff doesn't mean your home has to be that way, too. Everyone has reasons individual reasons for clutter, but it's up to you to figure out what motivates you to stay disorganized.
Why is cluttering important for children?
Cluttering should be treated to limit the effects it has on a child’s academics and social interactions . Cluttering can also cause emotional problems such as anxiety, fear, or avoidance, which may negatively affect the child’s potential.
What is the prognosis of cluttering?
Prognosis. Cluttering Prognosis. Some people who clutter do not realize that there is a problem with their speech and are , therefore , less motivated to change the behavior; thus, it is important that the child (or adult) become aware of the cluttered speech early on in the treatment process.
How to tell if your child has cluttered speech?
Here are symptoms to listen for if you suspect your child has cluttered speech: Speech does not sound fluent (smooth), language is not clearly stated and, child does not seem sure about what he or she wants to say. Speech is somewhat effortless, no physical struggle with producing words.
Why is a cluttered speaker difficult to speak?
Essentially, the cluttered speaker has a difficult time expressing the thoughts that are produced as speech due to speech and language errors. The stutterer has a difficult time speaking based on speech errors alone. Normally-fluent speakers can also exhibit cluttered speech when they become nervous.
How to treat cluttering in a SLP?
To treat cluttering, the SLP will identify disfluencies, introduce relaxation skills, emphasize organized and sequenced thoughts, teach memory skills, decrease overall rate of speech, and increase self-awareness of the issues.
Is stuttering a language disorder?
On the other hand, a person who clutters cannot efficiently organize the words in his or her mind to produce fluent speech. Thus, stuttering is considered to be a speech disorder (errors in the mechanical process of making sounds), while cluttering is considered to be a language disorder (errors in producing the thoughts ...
Is cluttering the same as stuttering?
Like stuttering, cluttering is a fluency disorder, though cluttering is much less common. Cluttering is often confused for stuttering, but the disorders are not the same. (See “Stuttering” for more information). To clarify the difference between the two disorders, a person who stutters typically knows what he or she wants to say, ...
What is cluttering?
Cluttering is a type of language and fluency disorder. Patterns of thought become muddled upon speech production, resulting in an abnormal pattern of speech and often including breaks in normal speech production. People who suffer from this may also have difficulty in reading and writing. Awareness of this condition may not always be present, and attention and listening may also be affected.
What is cluttering in speech?
Cluttering is a type of language and fluency disorder. Patterns of thought become muddled upon speech production, resulting in an abnormal pattern of speech and often including breaks in normal speech production. People who suffer from this may also have difficulty in reading and writing. Awareness of this condition may not always be present, ...
How does speech and language therapy help cluttering?
Speech and language therapy can help by improving a client’s communication skills and help them to develop coping strategies and management of their disorder. Speech and language therapy can also help to slow down their rate of speech. This may result in a client becoming more confident and therefore more fluent in their production of speech. A client may also improve attention and listening as a starting point for speech and language therapy.
What is the treatment for cluttering in speech?
Speech and language therapy may include assessments, reviews, reports, therapy programmes, support groups, training, education and advice. Specific speech and language therapy treatment for cluttering can include stuttering and fluency groups. An initial assessment will be carried out by one of our speech and language therapists.
What is the best treatment for cluttering?
Speech and language therapy can help any of the problems caused by cluttering, including attention. listening, comprehension, expression, speech sound and general communication difficulties.
What would speech and language therapy treatment for cluttering involve?
Speech and language therapy may include assessments, reviews, reports, therapy programmes, support groups, training, education and advice.
What is cluttering related to?
Cluttering may also be related to issues related to speech production and self regulation.
What is the difference between cluttering and stuttering?
The difference between cluttering and stuttering is that an individual who stutters generally knows what they want to say but can’t get the words out.
What Is A Fluency Disorder?
In terms of speech, fluency refers to factors such as rate of speech, continuity, effort, and smoothness.
What is cluttered speech?
Cluttering is when speech is rapid, unclear, and disorganized.
What is stuttering in music?
Stuttering is characterized by repetition of sounds and syllables, prolonging consonants, and blocks making sound inaudible.
Can a speech therapist help with cluttering disorder?
However, your speech therapist can help with cluttering disorder well into adulthood.
What is cluttering?
Cluttering is the term used to describe speech which has the following features:
Why do people clutter?
Cluttering is not yet fully understood. The underlying cause may be linked to neurological factors which affect the individual’s ability to regulate their speech. Cluttering may also run in families suggesting a genetic predisposition.
How to help a child who doesn't understand?
Try to give your child clear feedback, but with warmth, rather than telling them to slow down, speak clearly or stop mumbling. Try saying “I didn’t understand that” so that they know that they haven’ t got their message across to you. Try being open about the difficulty you have understanding them if that feels appropriate.
What is cluttering in speech?
Cluttering is a disorder that affects the way a person speaks. It is characterized by a rapid speaking rate and inability to maintain normally expected sound, syllable, phrase, and pausing patterns while speaking. Other symptoms may include stuttering; language or phonological errors (problems organizing sounds); and attention deficits. [1] [2] The disorder seems to result from disorganized speech planning, talking too fast or in spurts, or simply being unsure of what one wants to say. [2] Therapy generally focuses on the symptoms present in each individual and may include slowing the rate of speech and clearly producing speech sounds (articulating). Articulation and language problems are often reduced if the affected individual can achieve a slower rate of speech. [1] [2]
What is the Stuttering Foundation of America?
The Stuttering Foundation of America provides information about Cluttering on their Web site. Click on the link to view information on this topic.
What is the cause of stuttering?
In more rare cases, stuttering is the result of brain injury or severe psychological trauma. This form of stuttering, known as “acquired” stuttering, differs from developmental stuttering in both its causes and manifestations.
What factors influence stuttering?
While no one factor determines stuttering, the predominate theory suggests that a combination of genetics, language development, and the environment can influence the brain activity of people who stutter.
What causes stuttering in children?
There are many Common Myths that include theories about what causes stuttering. It’s important to remember that no single cause has been found for stuttering: 1 Stuttering is not caused by children’s parents 2 Stuttering is not caused by pointing out a child’s disfluencies 3 Stuttering is not a psychological problem (although it may have psychological effects) 4 Stuttering is not a sign of brain injury or reduced intelligence 5 Stuttering is not caused by learning another language (although it may present differently in bilinguals)
Why do children stutter?
As children produce longer and more complex sentences, their brain experiences higher demand. This increased demand can affect the motor control necessary to produce speech. When motor pathways can’t keep up with language signals, stuttering can occur.
What causes a person to stutter?
Researchers currently believe that stuttering is caused by a combination of factors, including genetics, language development, environment, as well as brain structure and function [1]. Working together, these factors can influence the speech of a person who stutters. Stuttering:
When do children start stuttering?
Stuttering most often begins between the ages of two and eight, when children’s language abilities are rapidly expanding. Many children who stutter may know exactly what they want to say, but their motor pathways aren’t quite ready to get the words out.
Which hemisphere is stuttering?
Findings from brain imaging studies indicate that there is more right hemisphere activity in adults who stutter, with less activity in the left hemisphere areas typically responsible for speech production. Some people who stutter have more difficulty processing auditory information and slower reaction times on sensory-motor tasks.
Why do clutterers need to pausing?
For some clutterers, pausing is all they need to improve their speech clarity, while others may need more help.
Why is my speech cluttering?
However, there are a bunch of scientific theories that attempt to explain the reason for cluttering speech. Some professionals attribute cluttering to an abnormal functioning Broca’s area (the speech center of the brain).
What Is Cluttered Speech? What Is Cluttering Speech?
Cluttering is a fluency disorder that involves disorganized, irregular, rapid, and unclear speaking, which is called cluttered speech. It is often mistaken for stuttering, but we will look at the differences later in the article.
What does cluttering speech sound like?
As a listener to a cluttering speech, you may hear excessive, unnecessary breaks that sound like the person is using fillers, unsure of what to say, or did not plan what to say.
What does it mean when you hear cluttering speech?
As a listener to a cluttering speech, you may hear excessive, unnecessary breaks that sound like the person is using fillers, unsure of what to say, or did not plan what to say. The definition of cluttering speech is a form of speaking characterized by the following cluttering symptoms:
How to stop cluttering speech?
Here, the exercise on how to stop cluttering speech is to practice intonation and emphasize pronouncing each term in a passage. With time and proper practice, you will be able to separate words and syllables to make more intelligible phrases.
How does exaggeration help you?
Exaggerated speech lets you force yourself into pacing by enunciating every sound in a word. Spending time to practice exaggerated speaking helps you apply the same concept to your daily life. With continuous voicing, you keep all the strategies you practiced for pauses and pacing in mind while making a sentence.
Why do clutterers slur?
This explains the common clinical impression that most cluttering disfluencies result from placing excessive demands on the output capabilities of the speaker’s linguistic and other systems. Clutterers also tend to slur or omit syllables of longer words, which compromise intelligibility during spurts of rapid speech.
How to help a clutterer?
Nevertheless, a number of therapeutic strategies have been recommended over the years, many of which we have found to be effective with specific clutterers. Importantly, these include speech, language, and other skills that may affect the clutterer’s ability to communicate effectively. We have selected common goals or principles for cluttering treatment and prioritized them as follows: slowing rate; heightening monitoring; using clear articulation; using acceptable, organized language; interacting with listeners; speaking naturally; and reducing excessive disfluencies. The following sections illustrate each principle.
How to determine if cluttering coexists with stuttering?
To determine if cluttering coexists with stuttering, we suggest categorizing disfluencies using Campbell and Hill’s Systematic Disfluency Analysis. Typical non-stuttering categories include hesitations, interjections, revisions, unfinished words, and phrase repetitions. Typical stuttering categories are sound or syllable repetitions, prolongations, or blocks. Word repetitions can belong to either category. The clinician should determine the duration and severity of disfluencies and identify accessory or secondary behaviors.
Why do clutterers talk so fast?
There is the near universal impression that clutterers try to talk too fast, so fast that their speech intermittently breaks down. This explains the common clinical impression that most cluttering disfluencies result from placing excessive demands on the output capabilities of the speaker’s linguistic and other systems. Clutterers also tend to slur or omit syllables of longer words, which compromise intelligibility during spurts of rapid speech.
What is cluttering in speech pathology?
Most speech-language pathologists are aware of the fluency disorder known as cluttering, and most seasoned clinicians have managed a few clients with the disorder. Many remember these clients not by how well they responded to treatment but by how puzzling it was to know what to do with them and how challenging they were to treat.
What is the purpose of Daly and Burnett's checklist for possible cluttering?
Using Daly and Burnett’s Checklist for Possible Cluttering can alert the clinician to a number of symptoms that are frequently observed in cluttering, although we agree with the authors that the instrument should not be used as the sole criterion for a diagnosis of cluttering.
What is cluttered speech?
Our research has advanced the following working definition: “Cluttering is a syndrome characterized by a speech delivery rate which is either abnormally fast, irregular, or both. In cluttered speech, the person’s speech is affected by one or more of the following: (1) failure to maintain normally expected sound, syllable, phrase, and pausing patterns; (2) evidence of greater than expected incidents of disfluency, the majority of which are unlike those typical of people who stutter.” An example of cluttered speech can be seen in the sidebar at the center of p. 5.

Definition
- The definition of cluttering adopted by the fluency disorders division of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is: Cluttering is a fluency disorder characterized by a rapid and/or irregular speaking rate, excessive disfluencies, and often other symptoms such as language or p…
Phonology
- A rapid and/or irregular speaking rate would be present in a speaker who has any or all of the following:
Symptoms
- These fluency and rate deviations are the essential symptoms of cluttering. In addition, however, there are a number of symptoms suggested in the latter part of the above definition that may or may not be present but add support to the impression that a person is cluttering. Accordingly, the clinical picture of a typical cluttering problem would be enhanced if the person in question had a…
History
- Until recently, most of what we knew of cluttering came from Europe. Except for one book in 1964, cluttering was essentially ignored in North America from the 1930s to the mid-1980s. Since that time, however, considerable research and attention is now being devoted to the problem.
Diagnosis
- Before getting treatment, it is important that someone suspected of cluttering be diagnosed accurately. It is advisable to consult a speech-language pathologist to make the diagnosis. The assessment process is often quite extensive and may require two or more sessions. It may also require contributions or reports from other professionals, such as classroom teachers, special ed…
Treatment
- Therapy for clutterers generally addresses the contributing problems first before focusing directly on fluency. Ordinarily, one of the first goals of therapy is to reduce the speaking rate, although this may not be easy for the clutterer to achieve. Some clutterers respond well to \"timing\" their speech to a delayed auditory feedback (DAF) device; some do not. Another technique that has b…
Benefits
- It is hard to predict whether or not a clutterer will benefit from speech therapy. Most clutterers who benefit have become convinced- from friends, family, or employers, or on their own - that they do have a significant speech problem. Also, motivation is a key element; they have good reason for working hard to change, such as the likelihood of a job promotion. On the other hand, clutterers …
Management
- Since cluttering is neither common nor well understood, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) may express doubt about whether or not they can effectively evaluate and treat cluttering. If so, they can be referred to a number of sources of information about the disorder. (See the references on back panel.) With such information, many of these SLPs may well be willing to provide therap…