How to Know if Your Child Is Stuttering

How do you know if your child is stuttering?

It isn't uncommon for young children to have disfluencies such as pauses, repetitions, additions or prolongations of words, sounds or phrases in their speech. "In fact, about 5% of all children are likely to stutter at some point in their development, usually during the preschool years" (Ducworth 1). It's also not uncommon for children to go back and forth between periods of fluency and disfluency. This can happen if the child is excited, tired, or feels rush to speak. Or, it could happen for no reason at all.
The number and frequency of disfluencies present in a child's speech patterns is an important part of determining whether or not a child is a stutterer and may require therapy. Generally, stuttering on more than 10 words out of 100 may indicate a problem. Only a speech-language pathologist trained in the diagnosis of stuttering can make this decision, really.

What causes stuttering?

A lot is still unknown about the causes of stuttering, but experts tend to agree that it is most probably caused by a combination of factors. Firstly, genetics is believed to play a part because stuttering tends to run in families. Most children who stutter often had a family member who stuttered when they were a child.

Secondly, developmental factors are believed to play a role. During preschool years, a child's physical, cognitive, social/emotional, and speech/language skills are developing at a very rapid rate. This rapid development can lead to stuttering in children who are predisposed to it, which is why stuttering will often begin during preschool years (Ducworth 1).

Third, environmental factors can have an influence. Parental attitudes and expectations, the child's speech and language environment, and stressful life events can all play a part. This doesn't mean that parents are doing anything wrong. Usually this happens only to child who already have a tendency to stutter, provoking it, as opposed to creating it in a child who doesn't already have a stuttering tendency. A child's fear and anxiety over the stuttering is also known to exacerbate it.

How is Stuttering Treated in Children

Treatment often focuses on teaching children to produce fluent speech through self-monitoring. First, the child will being practicing on a single word, slowly, and gradually, learn to fluently voice a full sentence. This process might take anywhere from a few weeks to six months or more. Another stuttering treatment technique focuses on helping children decrease secondary characteristics, such as twitching, blinking, and a closed or clamped jaw. 

It's important to try to inform those who have contact with a child who stutters to use smooth, relaxed speech when talking to him/her. This would include family members, friends, and teachers etc. There are many materials available through the Stuttering Foundation (http://www.stutteringhelp.org) that are pretty helpful for both parents and children.