Individuals of all ages who stutter want to be treated just as those who do not stutter. Do not finish their sentences, or interrupt. Do not look away, or disengage. Treat them as you would anyone else by giving them the time and the respect to share their voice with you and the world.

No, bilingualism does not make a person more likely to stutter. Speakers of more than one language may be at increased risk for being perceived as stuttering because they may be more likely to be disfluent as they are navigating use, but they are not increased risk for developing stuttering. Additionally, there is no evidence to support the idea that if a child begins to stutter that you should stop exposing them to an additional language. Bilingualism is amazing for so many reasons, many of which are personal to an individual’s family and culture—we wholeheartedly believe in this importance.

Paradoxically, in a genuine attempt to help children who stutter to integrate within a fluent world, speech-language pathologists, and teachers can potentially cause irreversible harm. For example, to avoid the concern that the child may potentially experience, or be misperceived as experiencing embarrassment or discomfort when stuttering in front of others, children who stutter are commonly provided accommodations wherein they are “protected” from having to contribute to class discussions, give presentations, and/or asked direct questions.

When adults who stutter reflect on the years of being pulled from the classroom in which they are “protected from speaking” to complete therapy in which they are being taught strategies to facilitate speaking without stuttering, they share how both the classroom and the therapeutic environment, becomes a source of shame, frustration, fear and anger. Many report suffering from lower levels of self-esteem, limited self-efficacy, and overall poorer quality of life, as well as reduced engagement and attainment in academic and vocational environments. But, there is hope, as targeting behaviors related to communication, advocacy, resiliency, and education has been shown to provide immediate academic and social benefits to children who stutter, and long-term psychosocial and vocational gains in adulthood. 

Increasing speech fluency has been a primary goal of stuttering treatment since our field was first established. However, this goal is anchored to a pervasive misperception that effective communication requires fluent speech, and the assumption that learning to speak fluently is a necessary step to improving quality of life.

Over the last two decades, the Blank Center has never targeted fluency as a measure of therapeutic change and has steadily built the evidence to support an alternative to the historically fluency centered approach to stuttering treatment that effectively targets Communication, Advocacy, Resiliency and Education (CARE) and empowers culturally and linguistically diverse persons who stutter of all ages to communicate effectively, speak confidently, and advocate meaningfully so that their daily lives and aspirations are not defined by whether or not they stutter when they speak.

The impact of stuttering on one’s quality of life can vary across individuals, regardless of the frequency of stuttering. Each person who stutters experiences stuttering in ways that are unique to them, whether they stutter at a high frequency or low frequencies. Some people who stutter may perceive their stuttering as severely impacting their daily life, even when the frequency is low. Similarly, another person may stutter on nearly every word, but perceive the impact on their life to be minimal.

Effective communication and stuttering are not mutually exclusive. You can stutter on every word and be an amazingly effective communicator. The falsehood that fluency is a prerequisite for effective communication has been perpetuated for decades — despite children, teens, and adults consistently reporting that trying to talk without stuttering compromises their desire and ability to communicate. The Blank Center approaches stuttering with the knowledge that effective communication should not be defined by society’s limiting view of ‘fluency.’ Upon completion of our programming, our participants notice increased confidence in their communication skills and they frequently become better communicators than those who do not stutter.

If your or your child stutters, the first step in treatment is typically a comprehensive assessment by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist who ideally has special expertise in the area of stuttering. During the assessment, the clinician will look at stuttering from a holistic perspective and provide individualized treatment recommendations and resources.

Most individuals who stutter begin stuttering between ages 2 and 7 years of age.

While the exact cause is still being actively researched, we can confidently say that stuttering is neurophysiological condition or difference with a strong genetic component that can be impacted by a variety of factors related to language, motor, speech, temperament, and environment. It is important to note that stuttering is not caused by nervousness or anxiety, as individuals can be at their most relaxed state and still stutter on every word. It is also not possible to ‘catch’ stuttering, as it is not something that is learned through imitation.

Stuttering is an interruption in the forward flow of speech characterized by repetitions of syllables (“buh-buh-but”), prolongations of sounds (“mmmmmy”), or blocks where no speech comes out (“[silent pause] what”), and is often accompanied by tension, struggle, and/or or self-coping behaviors as the person who stutters speaks. Stuttering is variable and fundamentally different than a typical ‘disfluency’ where the speaker who stutters experiences an underlying loss of control or a feeling of ‘stuckness.’ The impact of stuttering on a person’s life may go well beyond what a listener can see.