Punjabi words cure for lisping, stammering

Speech therapy

A research has found that about 90 words of Punjabi dialect have not only proved effective in treating problems of lisping and stammering among children but have also been useful to accurately diagnose such disorder.

The research could benefit a large population in Northern India and even Punjabi speaking population in Pakistan. Globally, an estimated more than 80 million people speak Punjabi.

The repetitive practice of these identified words under medical supervision would help many overcome their problem of stammering and lisping, the research conducted by at the ENT department of prestigious Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh said.

The technique, termed as Punjabi Articulation Test (PAT), has been coined by Dr Dharam Vir, the speech therapist at the department of ENT, PGI Chandigarh.  The research started in 2005.

Dr Vir said that the technique helped to examine the articulation errors of consonants on normal paediatrics population of Punjabi speaking children between the age of 8 and 10 years.

Some of the commonly used Punjabi words that promise cure and diagnoses of lisping and stammering include Kauli (bowl), Kanak (wheat), Kabootar (pigeon), Makaan (house), Ladka (boy).

There had been no credible technique until PAT to assess the prevalence of articulation errors and defects among the Panjabi speaking children and adult population, he stated.
The doctor said that PAT helps to identify with some degree of precision the speech errors of the patients. Speech therapist also make use of these words for better cure and correction of speech disorders among children.

The research was carried under Dr A K Gupta and Dr Naresh Panda at the department of Otolaryngology.