This week’s movie was very entertaining. It made me think a lot about the way we isolate and berate people suffering from speech problems just because they are difficult to understand or a nuisance to listen to. In today’s world, however, we have much better programs for identifying and correcting these speech impediments early on, so that they are no longer a problem, or are less of a problem later on in the child’s life. With programs like Speech-Language and Occupational therapy, patients can often show marked improvement, especially when they begin such programs at an early age. Although the problem does sometimes disappear on its own, it is better to be safe than sorry, and no harm is done to a child undergoing speech therapy.

Despite our now many ways of treating the problem we are still not able to locate its source. Sometimes it is obvious why a child has developed a speech impediment, obvious in the sense that we can diagnose it using medical equipment. Speech impediments caused by problems with the laryngeal webs (vocal chords) or noncancerous growths. These causes are more readily diagnosable and treatable. However sometimes an impediment will arise when there is no obvious physical reason for it to be there.

The science behind developing a speech impediment a field waiting to be explored and a lot of progress is currently being made in this field. It was interesting to learn more about medical and educational perspectives on the themes brought up in this film.