Identifi cation of objective indicators of respiratory disorders in primary schoolchildren who stutter

Abstract

The article presents the results of studying the respiratory function and speech breathing in primary school age children who stutter (CWS) using psychological, pedagogical and instrumental methods to obtain an objective picture of the state of physiological and speech breathing in this category of children. The examination was aimed at studying physiological, phonation, and speech breathing. Electrophysiological examination of the respiratory function included: determination of the type of breathing; registration of vital capacity of the lungs (VC), forced expiratory duration (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) using pneumography, spirometry and peak flowmetry. The study results of physiological breathing of CWS showed in half of the children a decrease in the vital volume of air in the lungs, the presence of a mixed type of breathing, in some of them – respiratory rhythm insufficiency. The study results of the maximum phonation time showed that the duration of the phonation exhalation did not correspond to the norm in more than half of the children. A disorder of the formation of speech breathing was revealed. The results of the studied indicators by age and gender are presented. The obtained data are objective evidence of disorders of physiological, phonation, and speech breathing in primary schoolchildren who stutter which requires targeted corrective work to develop the function of breathing and speech breathing in these children.