The Pig Who Stuttered

Students taking my child clinical psychology class discuss media figures that could be diagnosed with clinical disorders. Many of them go the extra mile on these assignments, which are worth sharing with a larger audience. The one presented here is about Porky Pig as an example of childhood-onset fluency disorder, better known as stuttering. Read on to learn about some of the symptoms, causes, associated problems, and effective treatments for this disorder.

The following is authored by and posted with permission from Clayton Allred and edited by myself.

Porky Pig was diagnosed with childhood-onset fluency disorder, or stuttering, when he was seven years old. He began stuttering when he was first learning to talk, but his parents were surprised that he didn't outgrow it like many young piglets when he began attending school. Porky's problems included sound and syllable repetitions, broken words, unfilled pauses in speech, circumlocutions, and monosyllabic word repetitions. He also demonstrated noticeable tension in his face when he tried to talk.

Porky's parents learned that Porky's stuttering was most likely due to genetic factors. The behavior was not a product of his linguistic environment. Porky was born prematurely and had a low birth weight, which may have accounted for abnormal development of the left hemisphere of his brain where the most prominent language centers reside. He was the runt of the litter and was often bullied by his siblings for his stuttering. Even though he had a low birth weight, he quickly put on the pounds because he had an insatiable appetite for the daily slop from the kitchen. Porky's classmates made fun of him about his weight, often calling him "Fatso" and "Chubby." Because he was the butt of a lot of jokes about his stuttering and weight, Porky began to feel anxious about communicating and started to withdraw from social activities. He didn't have any friends. His parents knew they had to do something.

Porky began seeing the school psychologist, Dr. Daffy Duck. Dr. Duck instructed Porky's parents to speak to Porky slowly and to use short and simple sentences to relieve some of his anxiety. Dr. Duck also assisted Porky's parents in setting up a contingency management plan for Porky, where he would be rewarded with apples, considered a treat by pigs, for successive approximations in his speech development. Lastly, Dr. Duck taught Porky to relax when speaking and to regulate his breathing.

Porky never completely overcame his stuttering, but Dr. Duck, who himself suffered from speech sound disorder, taught Porky an important lesson. Dr. Duck's lisp and slurred speech had improved somewhat over the course of his life due to treatment, but he still struggled some. He helped Porky learn to accept his stuttering and not let it keep him from being the pig he was always destined to be. Fortunately, Porky listened and pursued his acting dream with enthusiasm and reckless abandon. He was hired by Warner Brothers and was the first and longest running character on Looney Tunes. Porky learned to laugh at himself and make others laugh as well. He is an inspiration to people who stutter all around the world. Th-th-th-that's all folks!

Facts about stuttering:

1) Stuttering has a gradual onset between ages two and seven with a peak around age five.

2) Stuttering affects about 3 percent of children with three times more males than females being affected.

3) Of those who stutter before age five, 80 percent stop after a year in school.

4) Genetic factors account for around 70 percent of the variance in causes.

Techniques to address stuttering:

1) Parents can speak slowly to the child, using short sentences.

2) Contingency management and habit reversal techniques can be used.