Stuttering is an exceedingly common disability with over seventy million people struggling with some degree of the impairment worldwide.  Speech pathologists characterize stuttering as an “involuntary repetition, prolongation or blockage of a word or part of a word,” which occurs in approximately five percent of all children (Conture et al., 8).  Stuttering generally develops during a child’s preschool years, between the ages of two and five, however, researchers are unsure of its cause and cure (Bloodstein, 2).  Despite there being “few if any differences between stutterers and normal speakers in physical constitution, birth and developmental history, intelligence, and personality,” stuttering cannot be ignored and needs to be addressed early on (Bloodstein, 3).  Although there is no instantaneous cure for stuttering, parents, teacher, and speech professionals can give children the tools they need to cope with and hopefully overcome their disorder.  Stuttering, which is not a normal phase in children’s speech development, may cause children to struggle developing social and academic skills, as well as lessen a child’s chance of success if ignored or left untreated. 

Bender, author of Do You Know Someone Who Stutters, claims that stuttering is a “little-understood disorder,” despite it being a universal problem (221).  Due to the lack of knowledge on stuttering, parents often receive misleading advice from teachers and pediatricians.  Shine, in his article How Parents and Professionals Can Help the Stuttering Child, lists some of the faulty advice given to parents: 

“Don’t worry about it, Mom, it’s just a stage that most kids go thought”; ”It’s just normal nonfluency and you really need to be careful not to call attention to it or to cause your child concern by reacting or by trying to help him correct the problem”; “Just ignore the stuttering and try to find out what things in the child’s environment cause it, particularly what things you (Mom and/or Dad) are doing”; “It’s an emotional or psychological problem because he has a lot of trouble only when he’s excited.” (3) 

The vast amount of false and outdated information causes many parents to feel “anxiety, guilt, irritation, wanting to pretend this isn’t happening or that it will go away soon, embarrassment, sadness, anger or frustration at the child’s inability to perform what may seem to you like a simple task” (A Guide For Parents of Children Who Stutter, 2).  Langevin, author of Parent perceptions of the Impact of Stuttering on Their Preschoolers and Themselves, reveals that in a survey of seventy-seven parents, seventy of them reported feelings of “worry/anxiety/concern, uncertainty about what to do, frustration, upset…, [and] self-blame (fear that they had caused the stuttering)” (407).    In the past, research has blamed parents for their child’s stutter.  The article The Classroom Teacher and the Stuttering Child, by Al Knox, defines stuttering as “nothing more than a neurotic symptom of an emotionally disturbed person whose environment did not provide the necessary milieu in which normal language could be learned” (137).   Parents feel powerless when blamed for their child’s stuttering and often believe there is “no sense in trying to treat the child in extended and deep emotional therapy, then having him return to the same environmental stimuli at home” (Knox, 137).  These mixed negative emotions, wrongful blame, and feelings of hopelessness often cause parents to simply ignore their child’s stuttering. 

The “first thing you [as a parent] should do is not blame yourself for your child’s stuttering” (A Guide for Parents of Children Who Stutter, 1).  Current research reveals that stuttering is “not a learned behavior, a nervous condition, a psychological problem, an emotional problem, nor is it a problem caused by parental pressures and environmental stress” (Shine, 1).  It is also not caused by psychoses, neuroses, or nervousness, however these problems can make stuttering worse.  The article, A Guide for Parents of Children Who Stutter, reveals that the “emotional problems your child may be experiencing are usually the result of living with the stuttering problem rather than being the cause of the problem,” and speech, which is a motor skill, “tends to break down more when the child is under stress” (2).  Although researchers do not know the exact cause of stuttering, they believe it may be hereditary, have a genetic basis, or result from a coordination problem in the respiration, phonation, and articulation muscles.  Bloodstein, author of Stuttering: The Search for a Cause and Cure, reveals “many more stutterers than nonstutterers know of stuttering relatives or ancestors” (2).  Although researchers do not yet know exactly what causes stuttering, they do know that “how you relate to your children’s stuttering, and what kind of environment surrounds them once the stuttering begins, may have a great deal to do with the severity and development of your child’s stuttering problem” (A Guide for Parent of Children Who Stutter, 2).  

There “has never been one shred of evidence to support the assumption and long-accepted theory that parents cause stuttering,” however, parents and teachers are responsible for providing a nurturing environment and seeking professional help (Shine, 1).  The book Do You Stutter: A Guide for Teens, reveals that if parents and teachers create an open environment where  children can talk about their speech impairment, they are more likely to understand and cope with it (19).  “This knowledge probably won’t give [the stutterer] the power to ‘stop stuttering,’ but it will definitely help [them] see [their] problem a bit clearer” (Do You Stutter: A Guide for Teens, 19).  Shine advises parents to “talk openly about the problem and/or about the way the child talks,” and inform them that stuttering is nothing to be ashamed of (4).  One of the most important things a parent or teacher can do is make sure a child is not punished for his or her stuttering.  The article A Guide for Parents of Children Who Stutter, reveals that there are many “phrases, ways in which you use your body, facial gestures, or other non-verbal ways which perhaps made your child feel that he is doing something wrong when he stuttered” (3).  Parents and teachers should also avoid correcting children when they stutter.  The book Stuttering and Your Child: Questions and Answers, published by the Stuttering Foundation of America, says that despite “best intentions, the child who stutters seldom reacts to correcting as kind and helpful” (30).  The book says that correcting their stutter gives children “the message that he is not acceptable unless he speaks well” (Stuttering and Your Child: Questions and Answers, 30).  Parents and teachers need to avoid treating a child who stutters differently, including giving them special treatment.  Children who stutter should “be taught the standards of behavior, the social values, and the kinds of responsibility that you expect of your other children” (Stuttering and Your Child: Questions and Answers, 23).  Although stuttering should never be ignore, children with the disorder need to be held to the same standards as children without the disorder.    

Lisa Scott, the director of Clinical Education School of Communication science and disorders, says in the Kids Who Stutter: Parents Speak video that "one of the most important things we want you to know is that there is no evidence that parents cause stuttering, but there are lots of ideas and things you can do to help your child."  The video says that the best way to help your child is seeking a speech professional.  Although some children overcome their stuttering disorder with parent intervention alone, “the majority do not and thus early intervention and fluency training are necessary” (Shine, 5).  Current research advices parents to “seek professional help if you have any doubts about your child being at risk for stuttering” (A Guide for Parents of Children Who Stutter, 2).  The article A Guide for Parents of Children Who Stutter explains why it is important that parents seek a professional early on:

“There is much evidence that early therapeutic interventions is the most effective.  For preschool children there is every hope that, with early therapeutic intervention and guidance, the child will recover from stuttering.  On the other hand, stuttering in school age children can be much more resistant to change.  It may be that the difficulty is one your child will outgrow, but it would be wrong to take a chance on that.  The experienced professional can only help you and your child.” (2)

Bender’s article, Do You Know Someone Who Stutters, reveals that there are two phases to stuttering: primary stuttering, when a child is unaware of his stuttering, and secondary stuttering, when a child realizes that their “mutilated speech results in feelings of unpleasantness-of inferiority and frustration-in social situation” (223).  His article explains that if not treated early on, “secondary stuttering if allowed to develop, fosters personality problems which are likely to grow in complexity with advancing age” (Bender, 223).   The Stuttering Foundation website says that speech therapists can help children with “long-standing speech behaviors, emotions, and attitudes about talking and communication in general.”  

Children, starting in preschool, are often “aware of their stuttering and react negatively to it” (Langevin, 408).  A Guide for Parents of Children Who Stutter, says that children often feel frustration, guilt, shame, fear, and loneliness due to their stuttering.  In her article, Langevin says that “school-age children… are perceived negatively, teased, less accepted socially, less likely to be perceived as leaders, and more likely to be categorized as “bully-victims’ than are non-stuttering children” (408).  Children who stutter have an obvious irregularity in their speech, therefore the “most frequent reported peer reaction [is] teasing” (Langevin, 407).  Because children often react negatively to their language disorder, are disadvantaged, and are frequently bullied, it would be unethical to ignore a child’s stuttering (Langevin, 407).  

Although it may be easier for a parent to ignore their child’s speech disorder, leaving stuttering untreated can cause a child’s social and academic skills to under develop.  Socially, children who stutter often struggle with being different and have a hard time interacting with their teachers and peers.  Due to their obvious speech disorder, children with a stutter are often teased and imitated by their peers.  Research shows bullying can make stuttering worse, stop social skills from developing fully, and may cause the child to become introverted.  Stutterers often do not talk as much and as a result, they “may not have developed as many conversational skills which are helpful in relationships with others” (Do You Stutter: A Guide for Teens,  51).  Academically, children who stutter may fall behind in school due to their impairment.  Stutterers often have difficulty passing verbal exams, giving speeches, answering questions aloud, and participating in class discussions.  Many children anticipate stuttering and try to avoid answering questions, however avoiding the situation causes children to be more fearful of speaking and could potentially make their stuttering worse.  Talking in school, which is “vital to success as a student,” is important because students spend much of their time in a school environment (Do You Stutter: A Guide for Teens, 41).  The book, Do You Stutter: A Guide for Teens, also published by the Stuttering Foundation of America, says that: 

“Getting therapy in which you [the student] are learning to modify your speech, deal with time and pressure, and decrease your stuttering in situations varying systematically from easier to more difficult, is the most positive and the most hopeful way of improving your participation in school activities.” (43)  

Stuttering, which breaks up sounds in the first syllable of a word, causes children to struggle with physical and mental stress in addition to social and academic strain. (2).  Most nonstutterers have “hesitations, repetitions, and prolongations in [their] normal conversation speech from time to time,” however people who stutter also suffer from anticipation, the brief and random inability to say certain words, and uncontrollable body movements (Bloodstein, 1).  Stutterers may “jerk their heads, shut their eyes, stick out their tongues, clench their fists, gasp, or empty their lungs with sudden expiratory thrusts of air” when trying to speak (Bloodstein 3).  Due to anticipate, many people who stutter use “sounds or words such as ‘er,’ ‘well,’ or ‘you know’’ to delay saying words they may struggle with (Bloodstein, 3).  When stuttering, people often feel an inability to control their body, “as if their tongue, lips and jaw are momentarily paralyzed or acting of their own accord” (Bloodstein, 4).     

Depending on the severity, children may have to repeatedly visit a speech pathologic, however, “under Public Law 94-142, stuttering is considered a disorder for which public schools are required to provide competent assistance to the child in the school setting or to pay for appropriate treatment elsewhere” (A Guide for Parents of Children Who Stutter, 3).     For some children, therapy may also sound intimidating.  The book Let’s Talk About Stuttering by Susan Kent is written for young children who stutter.  The book, which follows the lives of kids that stutter, reassures children that they are not alone, helps children understand what stuttering is, and teaches children how to cope with a speech disorder.  The book tells children that:

“If your stuttering bothers you, therapists called speech-language pathologists can help.  They teach you how to breathe smoothly and evenly, and how to relax your lips, jaw, tongue, and throat when you speak.  They play games with you that can help improve your stuttering.  You might build with blocks or blow bubbles.  You and your therapist might play cards or lotto, and take turns talking.  You learn to do thing the slow-and-easy way rather than the fast-and-hard way.” (Kent, 18).    

Stuttering, which is not a normal phase in speech development, should not be ignored or overlooked by parents, teachers, or pediatricians.  It remains a worldwide problem due to the extensive number of children that go untreated.  Stuttering, which must be addressed early on, is often ignored because parents are told that their child will grow out of it.  Because parents are often given outdated advice, schools and pediatric offices should seek new resources and pamphlets with updated research.  Well known stuttering websites, such as Stuttering Foundation of America, should also updated their information and no longer use old articles as references.  Having an overall understanding of what stuttering is, its causes, and ways it can be improved, would benefit parents and keep them better informed.  Updated information would also help parents and teachers provide their children with the environment and tools they need to overcome their disorder.  Because stuttering can cause significant damage to children socially and academically as they develop, school systems and medical institutions should take early diagnoses seriously.  If school systems or doctors were to test children periodically between the ages of two and five, stuttering could be caught in its early stages of development, giving children the chance to work with a speech pathologist before their impairment worsened.  Because speech impairments are much harder to reverse as children grow older, diagnosing children early on would give them a better chance of developing normal speech patterns.  Although not all stuttering cases can be fixed completely, informing parents, teachers, pediatricians, and children on what stuttering is and how it can be improved will give stutterers an equal chance at success. 
