A fluency disorder is an interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by atypical rate, rhythm, and disfluencies. Stuttering is the most common fluency disorder. Genetic and neurophysiological factors contribute to the emergence of stuttering. Environmental factors (e.g., stress, family dynamics) and speaking demands may exacerbate disfluent speech. Stuttering starts between 2 and 6 year of age. It is common for children experiencing periods of disfluency that last less than 6 months. If stuttering lasts longer than 6 months, we encourage seeking help from a licensed speech-language pathologist.  

Signs and Symptoms:

• Monosyllabic whole-word repetitions (e.g., “That-that-that sounds fun!”)
• Part-word or sound repetitions (e.g., “I saw a b-b-b-ball”)
• Prolongation of consonants when it isn’t for emphasis (e.g., “Ssssometimes I eat pasta”)
• Blocking (e.g., inaudible or silent fixations or inability to initiate sounds)
• Filler words (e.g., “um”, “like”)  

These dysfluencies may be accompanied by negative reactions to speaking, avoidance behaviors, escape behaviors or secondary mannerisms (e.g., eye blinking), or physical tension. 

At One Speech Therapy, our licensed speech-language pathologists will provide individualized treatment for your child who is stuttering. Our speech therapists use indirect treatment strategies (e.g., counseling) or direct treatment intervention (e.g., speech modification and stuttering modification strategies) to reduce dysfluency rate, physical tension, and secondary behaviors. We will work together towards increasing your child’s self-confidence and overall social communication participation.