Stuttering: Facts, Myths, and More
What is stuttering?
Stuttering is a communication disorder characterized by disfluencies, or disruptions in the transitions between speech sounds/words/connected speech. These disfluencies may include blocking, repeating sounds/syllables/words, or prolongations of sounds.
Worldwide, about 1% of the population stutters. This may not seem like a lot, but 1% is equivalent to 70 million people! Statistics show that stuttering is more common in boys than girls, with a ratio of 4:1, and the onset of these symptoms are often between the ages of 2 and 6.
Stuttering Myths (aka what stuttering is *not*):
Stuttering is not caused by shyness or nervousness. (Though, you may notice below that nervousness could make stuttering worse.)
Stuttering is not associated with lower intelligence.
Being around a parent or relative who stutters does not cause stuttering in children. (The next section will discuss this further.)
What causes stuttering?
To clarify on the section above, just because a parent/relative stutters does not mean that the child will end up stuttering, though, it could mean that the child is genetically predisposed to stuttering. Stuttering is thought to have a genetic component since the incidence of stuttering between relatives is about 50%.
What can increase the occurrence of stuttering?
There are a few things that can make stuttering worse:
Stress, anxiety, fear
Different settings (some individuals report that they are completely fluent over the phone, some say that they see an increase in their disfluencies when speaking in public, etc.) It depends on the person!
While these things may make stuttering in individuals worse, research has shown that they do not cause stuttering. In fact, stress/anxiety/fear are often the result of stuttering (rather than result in stuttering).
What can decrease the occurrence of stuttering?
Speech-Language Pathologists are qualified to provide individuals with strategies to decrease the frequency of stuttering. These may include: breathing exercises/techniques, rate of speech experiments, and counseling of thoughts/feeling towards stuttering.
If you or your child is experiencing disfluencies in your speech, feel free to contact us for a free 15-minute consultation and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.