Early Childhood Stuttering

About Early Childhood Stuttering

Stuttering is a speech disorder that affects up to 5% of the population at some time or other in their life. Most of those who have a stammer are children, but this is actually a fairly normal part of a child's language development. This doesn't however mean that a parent should have no concerns whatsoever about their stuttering children.

Early childhood stuttering is something that about 20% of children go through. For about 5% the stuttering can last over six months, meaning that in most cases, early childhood stuttering will eventually disappear completely in about three to six months. From late childhood into adolescence, only 1% end of these have developed stuttering as a long term speech disorder.

As children are learning their native language, they sometimes have not yet developed to the stage of expressing themselves as fluently as their minds are working. So they may have a little stuttering in their everyday language. It can also be the forwarning of a development problem in stuttering, learning or even motor difficulties in early childhood.

The most common age for children to start to stutter is around two and a half to three years of old. This means that most children outgrow stuttering by the time they come to four years old. This will be reassuring to parents worried about their stuttering toddler, but it should also not make them complacent.

The parent of a child who stutters for over six months should certainly see a consultant. At this point the chances the child will have a long term stuttering problem increases dramatically. Intervention at this early stage can make it a lot easier for the child to learn how best to deal with the stuttering, and it prepares the parents for coping with and helping their child.

It is very common to hear stuttering children. This is because everyone experiences occasional episodes of verbal non-fluency when they repeat a word over and over or they repeat a sound more than once before continuing on with what they are saying. This is normal behaviour for children now and again as they try to get across what they are thinking faster than their mouths are prepared to spit it out.

Most of the time early childhood stuttering can be thought of as a cute stage that the child goes through. Parents should be prepared to help the child to feel comfortable by simply listening patiently. Any encouragement for the child to calm down or speak slowly, and take a deep breath may make the condition worse. Certainly any impatience will not help and may exacerbate the problem. The child should not feel under pressure to speak correctly. Even if you think it will help them stop stuttering by telling them to calm down, it can make their fluency of speech even harder.

In summary for the small percentage of stuttering children that continue it into childhood, parents can find ample therapies and other resources to help their stuttering child and themselves in the process. Tackling the situation in a mature way can help start the child on the best possible path towards leading a stress-free life, and above all to have positive communication experiences in their everyday life.

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Stammering, Stuttering Treatments, Early Childhood Stuttering

Articles

• Stammering
• Early Childhood Stuttering
• Toddler Stuttering
• Speech Therapy Programs
• Preschool Stuttering
• Stuttering Medication



• Social Bookmark This Page
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Privacy Policy
• Sitemap