What is stuttering?

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.

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