Stuttering
Stuttering is a disorder in which speech is interrupted by the following types of disfluencies:
- Part-word repetitions – “I w-w-w-want a drink.”
- One-syllable word repetitions – “Go-go-go away.”
- Prolonged sounds – “Ssssssssam is nice.”
- Blocks or stops – “I want a (pause) cookie.”
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.
- 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
Natural Recovery
Some children recover from stuttering naturally, although the exact rate of recovery and the average time taken to recovery is not known. It is important to begin treatment of stuttering some time shortly after onset during the preschool years (prior to beginning school): one year at the most. It is known that few children will have recovered without treatment by then. At present it is not possible to say whether an individual child will recover naturally.
(ASHA, 2020)
What To Do?
Contact your speech therapist for a formal assessment