What is it?

Stammering (also known as stuttering or dysfluency) is a complex difficulty that can vary at different ages, in different situations and for different children.

Learning to talk, like learning to walk, is never completely smooth and does not happen straight away. Young children often stop, pause, start again and stumble over words when they are learning to talk.

Between the ages of two and five years, it is normal for a child to repeat words and phrases and hesitate with “um”s and “er”s, when they are sorting out what to say next. Approximately 5% of children will stammer at some point, and of this 5%, approximately 2% will overcome their difficulty without help, 2% benefit from help from a Speech and Language Therapist and 1% will continue to stammer into adulthood. Stammering is not caused by their environment, such as their interactions with their parents. However, (particularly when a child is younger) making changes to their environment can help to improve their fluency.

Why does it happen?

No one knows exactly what causes stammering, but we do know that it is not caused by anxiety, nervousness, laziness or low intelligence. In fact, many children who learn to speak earlier than their peers go through a period of stammering in early childhood. We do know that it can be affected or influenced by a range of factors such as:

• Personality/Emotional State (while it is not caused by anxiety, symptoms are usually worse when a child is anxious, tired, unwell, or under stress)
• Speech and Language Skills
• Gender (stammering is more common in boys than girls)
• Environment
• Genetics (stammering has been found to run in families, with people who stammer having a higher chance of having a child who stammers)

Facts about stammering

• Stammering in early childhood and later in life can fluctuate in severity
• Stammering is reported in all cultures, in all social groups, and at all levels of intelligence
• Stammering may vary in different situations, e.g. a child may be fluent at home and stammer at school or vice versa
• Parents or other significant people in the child’s environment do not ‘cause’ stammering, but they can help their child become more fluent
• Stammering most often begins to occur between the ages of 2 – 5 years

Presentation of stammering

Stammering varies in nature and may be one or a combination of the following different productions. These occur in a hierarchy, with those closer to the top being less of a concern than those further down. Stammering can be episodic, so a child may be fluent for days or weeks then have a period of stammering.

• Repetitions of words e.g. ‘mum-mum-mum I want this’
• Repetitions of sounds e.g. ‘b-b-but I want that’;
• Prolongations of sound e.g. ‘mmmmy mmmum says so’
• Blocks, where a child gets completely stuck on a word
• Secondary behaviours such as head nodding, foot tapping or excessive blinking
•  Avoidance, where a child may use phrases or words to avoid saying something they expect to find difficult.

Resources

• Strategies for teachers
• Strategies for parents
• Potentially Difficult Situations for a child who stammers
• Stammering and SLT
• Fluency Strategies for children
• Special Time
• Information for teenagers who stammer
• Strategies to support children and young people who stammer (video coming soon)