About Stuttering

What is stuttering?

Stuttering, or stammering, is a motor speech disorder that affects the flow or rhythm of verbal communication.^{1, 2} An individual who stutters may repeat or prolong sounds and words in their speech. They might also have repeated physical movements, like lip tremors or eye blinking. Stuttering does not reflect an individual’s language, academic or cognitive abilities.

Stuttering affects people from all backgrounds, levels of education and personalities. Stuttering typically starts between the ages of two and four years, and can persist into adulthood.

What are the signs and symptoms of stuttering?

People who stutter might show the following behaviours:

Repetition of sounds, word parts, whole words, or phrases;
Sound prolongation, where sounds are stretched out in speech, eg. ssssssun;
Blocking of speech, where sounds get stuck and no sound comes out for a period of time

These speech features may be accompanied by additional physical movements including:

Facial tics (uncontrolled facial spasms such as rapid eye blinking or nose scrunching);
Lip tremors;
Excessive eye blinking;
Hand flapping;
Tension in the face and upper body.

How common is stuttering?

Stuttering is common, affecting approximately 1% of the population globally.³ Overall, males are more likely to stutter than females.^{4, 6} A large Australian study found that 8.5% of children will experience a period of stuttering by the age of 3 years, and 11.2% by the age of 4 years.^{2, 4} While many children (up to 65%) recover naturally from stuttering, this is not always the case. Early intervention is recommended from a speech pathologist.⁵

What is the impact of stuttering?

Stuttering can have long-term impacts on an individual’s day to day life.⁷ Stuttering impacts a person’s ability to communicate effectively in everyday situations, like meeting someone new or talking on the phone. Individuals who stutter might be teased or excluded from social groups. Other people may also react negatively to their stuttering.^{8, 9} As a result, people who stutter might change the way they speak to avoid stuttering. They might choose to avoid using certain words, talk less or hesitate and pause before trying to speak.

The impacts of stuttering can lead to frustration, emotional distress and social anxiety in both children and adults.^{7, 8}

How is stuttering treated?

While many children naturally recover from stuttering, we are unable to predict who these children will be. It is therefore recommended that children who stutter receive treatment as early as possible. Treatment is also available for adults who stutter, which can help with improving the fluency of speech and reducing the impact stuttering on day to day life.

There are two broad types of treatment for stuttering that have been proven effective in clinical trials: The Lidcombe Program and Smooth Speech Treatment.¹¹

The Lidcombe Program is a behavioural treatment program for children under the age of 6 years. The Lidcombe Program is supported by the strongest level of evidence and has been shown to have positive long-term outcomes.^{12, 13} The Lidcombe Program is a speech pathology-based program, where a parent and child attend a clinic once a week. At these appointments, the speech pathologist shows parents how to perform the Lidcombe treatment at home. The child’s progress and progression through the program is monitored each week. The Lidcombe Program can also be effectively delivered via telehealth.¹⁴

Smooth Speech Treatment (sometimes referred to as slowed speech) is an evidence-based treatment most utilised by speech and language therapists, for older children, adolescents and adults .^{11, 15} It aims to restructure the way an individual speaks to avoid the stuttering. Smooth Speech treatment can be administered weekly on a one-to-one basis or through intensive groups. The group option is more common and can take place across the course of one week, with weekly follow-up appointments.

These treatments are delivered by speech and language therapists. Contact your GP in the first instance, to discuss referral to speech and language services in your area. In some local areas, you can contact local NHS speech therapy services directly to make an appointment (search online to find your local service). Alternatively, you could get in touch with the team at Stamma, who offer assistance with finding services in your area.

Other services

Other treatments, not delivered by speech and language therapists are also available. For example, The McGuire Programme is a more controversial approach used to treat both adolescents and adults who stutter.¹⁶ This program is administered, instructed and coached by people who have either made a substantial recovery from their stuttering, or are in the process of recovering. The McGuire Program uses a breathing technique as the basis of its speech re-training. It also provides training in areas of assertiveness, voice projection and speech making.

See our useful links page for more information about seeking help or support for your, or your child's stutter.

About Stuttering

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