Stuttering

Stuttering is usually a clue that F7 and F8 are competing over dominance for language.  F8 (the analogue to Broca’s Area at F7) is supposed to be like an understudy for the main character in a play.  It walks around back-stage, mouthing the words to Hamlet’s soliloquy while F7 is out on the stage declaiming it.  When F8 loses sight of that role, it stands in the wings and speaks the lines in full voice, causing poor F7 to become confused.  In short, F7 and F8 are both sending orders to the vocal apparatus to say the same thing; it’s F7’s job, so its signals get there a bit faster than F8’s and the vocal apparatus starts to speak, then starts again and trips on itself.  The result is mixed messages reaching the speech areas resulting in false starts.

Try doing an assessment task at F7 and F8 to see which activates with a reading aloud task.  Training beta at F7 often helps.  I like F7/A1 or F7/CP5, 15-18 Hz up and 2-5 Hz down (unless you are working with a younger child).  Sometimes training F7/F8 in one channel (a bipolar montage) can also be helpful.

Look at both sites. If F8 is highly activated (more fast activity than F7 or about the same), you might quiet F8 or activate F7.

Stuttering often resolves very quickly.   Since F7 is also related to control of physical and verbal impulsivity and F8 with emotional regulation and social inhibition, training in those sites can have some nice “side-effects” as well.