Stuttering

What Is Stuttering?

Stuttering usually starts between 2 and 6 years of age. Many children go through normal periods of disfluency lasting less than 6 months. Stuttering lasting longer than this may need treatment.
There is no one cause of stuttering. Possible causes include the following:

• Family history: Many people who stutter have a family member who also stutters
• Brain differences: People who stutter may have small differences in the way their brain works during speech

You cannot always know which children will continue to stutter, but the following factors may place them at risk:

• Gender: Boys are more likely to continue stuttering than girls. Data are currently limited to individuals who identify as male or female
• Age when stuttering began: Children who start stuttering at age 3½ or later are more likely to continue stuttering
• Family recovery patterns: Children with family members who continued to stutter are also more likely to continue

Seeing A Professional

If you think your child stutters, get help from a Speech Therapist as early as possible. Early help can reduce the chances that your child will keep stuttering. Contact us if any of the following things happen:

1. Your child’s stuttering has lasted for 2-6 months or more
2. Your child starts to stutter late (after 3½ years old)
3. Your child starts to stutter more often
4. Your child tenses up or struggles when talking
5. Your child avoids talking or says it is too hard to talk
6. There is a family history of stuttering

Testing For Stuttering

It’s not easy to tell if your child stutters. Stuttering is more than disfluency, so it is important to see a Speech Therapist for testing. Our Speech Therapist will look at the following things:

• The types of disfluencies (typical and stutter-like)
• The number of disfluencies that are the stuttering type
• How does your child react when they stutter – do they get upset?
• How does your child try to “fix” their speech – do they start over or stop talking?

The Speech Therapist will ask if your child’s stuttering affects the way they play with others, or if stuttering makes it harder for them to participate in school. The Speech Therapist will use all of this information to decide if your child stutters or not.
Our team will also test your child’s speech and language. This includes how your child says sounds and words, how well they understand what others say, and how well they use words to talk about their thoughts.

Treatment For Stuttering

There are different ways to help with stuttering. A treatment team usually includes you, your child, other family members, and your child’s teacher. Treatment will depend on one or more of the following:

• How much your child stutters
• How does your child react when stuttering
• How stuttering impacts your child’s everyday life
• How others respond to your child when they stutter
  Your child’s age

Treatment For Preschool Children Who Stutter

For preschool children, treatment may include the use of direct or indirect strategies.

• Direct strategies help your child change how they speak
• Indirect strategies are ways to help make it easier for your child to talk. These strategies can include slowing down your own speech and asking fewer questions

You are an important part of your child’s treatment. Persian Speech Clinic can help you learn more about how to respond when your child stutters and what to do to improve how your child feels about talking.