Stuttering behaviors are often observed with children ages three and four as their language skills are developing rapidly as well as their physical growth. These verbal disfluencies are typically characterized by whole-word repetitions without any tension or awareness and should resolve spontaneously. For example, “ Please please please, can I play?” However, children may be at risk for chronic stuttering if you observe consistent and frequent multiple part-word repetitions (e.g. “ha-ha-ha-have you seen my mom?”), prolongations (e.g. “Wwwwwhere is the bathroom?”), struggle and tension when speaking, or difficulty with airflow or voicing (known as blocking).
If these behaviors are present, contact a speech-language pathologist right away as complete reversal of these behaviors is time sensitive. Parents can promote speech fluency by limiting interruptions, repeating back disfluent utterances fluently, modeling slower speech, minimizing time pressure, maintaining eye contact during a moment of stuttering, and minimizing negative reactions to stuttering. It is important to praise communication attempts, not focusing on the fluency. Do not ask your child to slow down, start over, or think about what they are saying. These responses are not helpful as the child knows what they want to say, but physically cannot say it.
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