You love listening to your child communicate verbally, and the sound of their voice brings a smile to your face. Mixed in with your smile is a touch of concern because you notice that your child is stuttering — and you feel it’s more than just them trying out new and strange words.
It might surprise you to learn that 5% of kids go through a period of stuttering and 75% of them grow out of the speech disfluency by adolescence. The remainder can go on into adulthood with a stutter, but many don’t, thanks to early speech therapy intervention.
Since early intervention is key for minimizing long-term stuttering, the experienced team here at Celebrations Speech Group thought it would be a good idea to review a few signs that your child’s stuttering could benefit from speech therapy.
The first question many parents ask us is why their kids stutter, and researchers haven’t yet found a definitive answer to this. We do know that there might be a genetic component, as stuttering tends to run in families. We also know that boys are 3 to 4 times more likely to stutter than girls, which we believe is due to innate differences in language abilities between the genders.
Whatever lies behind your child’s stuttering, we do know that most kids grow out of stuttering within 6-24 months, but the longer it goes on, the more likely the child is to carry the speech disfluency into adulthood without early speech therapy intervention.
To figure out whether your child’s stuttering is becoming more problematic and chronic, these guidelines can be helpful:
If your child continues to stutter at the same rate, or it worsens, for more than 6 months, it’s a very good idea to consult with us.
Most kids start stuttering before age 3 or 3-½, but if your child spoke more fluently before and then developed stuttering after age 3-½, you should seek our help. Late-onset stuttering like this tends to become more chronic.
If your family has a history of stuttering, especially in adulthood, it’s a good idea to be proactive about speech therapy as early as possible.
If you notice that your child starts to isolate and talk less due to frustration with stuttering, this can have a serious impact on their social development. In these cases, we highly recommend coaxing them back out through speech therapy.
If 10% or more of what your child says comes with a stutter, speech therapy can prove very beneficial.
Our speech therapists have extensive experience helping kids who stutter with evidence-based practices and exercises, such as:
We also work on helping your child to relax and accept the stuttering rather than fight it. When this happens, their frustration and tension ease, often resolving much of the disfluency.
Ultimately, each child’s stuttering treatment plan is highly personalized to their needs, and we work in lockstep with your child and you, as parents, to help improve your child’s communication.
If you have more questions about stuttering or you’d like to schedule an evaluation for your child, please contact one of our offices in Brentwood, Stockton, or Elk Grove, California, to schedule an appointment.
