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Home › Articles › Speech/Language Issues › Early Interventions

Early Interventions

Hope and Support
for Those Who Stutter

By Teri Brown

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Speech impediments strike at the very core of who we are as human beings.Discussing and communicating abouthow we feel and what is happening in our lives is part of what sets us apart as human beings. The inability to do so effectively leads to frustration, dissatisfaction and a loss of self-esteem. This is especially true for children who may be teased for their lack of understandable speech.

One of the most common speech difficulties is stuttering. According to the National Stuttering Association (NSA), stuttering is a debilitating handicap that affects 4 million people and their families in the United States and 60 million worldwide.

Tammy Shaw from Tucson, Ariz., noticed her son's stuttering when he was 2 years old."He is 4 1/2 now and still continues to stutter," says Shaw. "It's almost like his mind is going faster than his mouth can get it out."

Shaw had her son evaluated by the local school system around his 4th birthday. They didn't think it was anything to be concerned about at that point and suggested it may improve as he gets older.

"I plan on waiting till he starts Kindergarten and then possibly revisiting the issue again," says Shaw.

Genetic and Neurological Roots
According to the American Institute for Stuttering (AIS) Web site, stuttering is a communication disorder involving disruptions, or disfluencies, in a person's speech. The word "stuttering" can be used to refer either to the specific speech disfluencies that are commonly seen in people who stutter or to the overall communication difficulty that people who stutter may experience.

Catherine S. Montgomery, executive director of AIS, says stuttering is a physical disorder with genetic and neurological roots that typically presents itself when a child is very young.

"Classic stuttering is known as developmental stuttering and typically begins in early childhood [average ages 2 to 8] but sometimes sets in closer to adolescence," says Montgomery. "Acquired stuttering into teen years or adulthood is extremely rare and usually occurs because of some sort of brain trauma or injury [such as stroke or accident with head injury]."

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