Signs Your Child May Have a Stutter
In this series of videos, I'll be discussing stuttering and young children. Today we're talking about what to look for and when to seek help from a professional. Stuttering and fluency disorders are complex, and there's a lot that we still don't really know about them. But despite that, there's a lot that we do, so let's jump in.
First let's cover some basics. Everyone has moments of disfluency. We trip over words, we repeat ourselves, we say "um." But for some individuals disfluencies might start to impact their communication. A certified speech-language pathologist is trained to evaluate and treat stuttering and fluency disorders, so if you're concerned about yourself or a family member, it's a good idea to consult a doctor or get in touch with a speech therapist.
Five percent of children will go through some period of stuttering in their development, but for 75 percent of those children, they're likely to grow out of it without intervention. For the remaining 25 percent, they might need speech therapy to support them. And for those kids that do, their stuttering doesn't mean that they're anxious children or that they aren't intelligent. Stuttering is just a part of them, just the same as I have brown hair.
Stuttering behaviors can come in many forms, so here's a chart that breaks down what we would consider more typical disfluencies, which are those that most people experience some of the time, versus less typical disfluencies, which are more commonly observed in an individual with a fluency disorder.
Speech-language pathologists look for red flags when determining if a child is likely to have persistent stuttering that warrants treatment. These include:
a family history of stuttering
consistent periods of disfluency lasting longer than 6 months
stuttering starting after age 3 and a half
delayed disordered language skills or advanced language skills
other speech sound errors or difficulties being understood, or
if they're a male child
If you're a parent or a caregiver to a child who's experiencing bumps in their speech or stuttering and has any of these indicators, I recommend seeking input from a speech-language pathologist. Be sure to check back with the other videos in this series for more information about stuttering and early childhood. I hope you found this video helpful. Be sure to subscribe to the Expressable channel for more speech-language therapy ideas and tips.
