Successful Approaches for Assessment and Treatment of Stuttering in Early Childhood

Everyone has times when they do not speak fluently. We may add "uh" or "um" or "like" to what we say. Sometimes, wemight say a sound or a word more than once, which is called disfluencies. People who stutter usually speak with more disfluencies and different types of disfluencies than the average person. They may repeat parts of words, stretch a sound out for a long time, or have a difficult time getting a word out. More than 70 million people worldwide stutter (over 3 million in the United States), which is about 1% of the population. Stuttering affects four times as many males as females. Stuttering involves much more than just disfluencies in speech. Stuttering also may include tension and negative feelings about speaking, which may cause avoidance of certain words or certain speaking situations. Stuttering often changes from day to day and can be affected by stress or excitement.

Approximately five percent of all children go through a period of stuttering that lasts for at least six months. If stuttering persists beyond six months, or is severe, the services of a speech-language pathologist who has experience with stuttering should be consulted. The best prevention tool is early intervention! There are a variety of successful approaches for treating both children and adults;however, there are no miracle cures for stuttering. A speech- language pathologist can help children, teenagers, and adults make significant progress toward fluency.

Highlights

• Describe components of stuttering to aid in assessment and differential diagnosis
• Apply knowledge of the causes and severity of stuttering to write effective treatment plans and therapy goals

Target Audience: Speech-Language Pathologists