Preschool Stuttering Therapy: A Parent's Guide to Early Intervention

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As preschoolers develop their speech, they often experience "disfluencies," or disruptions in the flow of conversation. While these are a normal part of learning to speak, certain speech difficulties, like stuttering, may indicate a fluency disorder. Early intervention for stuttering is crucial in helping children overcome these challenges. In this guide, we'll discuss the signs that your preschooler might develop a stutter, when to seek help, and practical tips to support their speech development at home.

Stuttering is a speech disorder/impediment and one of the most common fluency disorders, impacting 79 Million people worldwide. It disrupts the rhythm and flow of speech in different ways, including frequent pauses, repetitive sounds or words, uttering unintended sounds, etc., making speaking challenging. There are a few different types of stuttering, including:

• Developmental stuttering, also known as child-onset fluency disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder related to brain differences occurring in childhood.
• Persistent stuttering that continues into adulthood.
• Acquired stuttering that results from an illness, emotional trauma, or brain injury.

In children older than six or where the stuttering persists beyond six months, the stuttering could indicate a speech disorder. Signs your preschooler is developing a chronic stutter include:



• Only repeating a part of the word, such as the first sound, "I w-w-w-want to leave."
• Repeating one syllable, such as "Let-let-let go."
• Prolonging a single sound of a word such as "Ssssssssally went home."
• Stopping with pauses like "I have a (long pause) book."

There are also behaviors associated with stuttering to watch for, including:



• Trying to overcome a stutter with physical behavior such as nodding their head or blinking
• Avoiding using more difficult-to-pronounce words
• Avoiding speaking with others because they are embarrassed by their stutter
• Becoming frustrated when trying to speak as they struggle to express themselves
• A worsening stutter when rushing to tell you something, upset or excited

The cause of stuttering is not currently known. However, the following can increase the risk of stuttering:



• Family history of stuttering or family recovery patterns of continued stuttering
• Brain differences that impact speech
• Children born as boys
• Later development of a stutter past the age of 3½

Formal testing will confirm whether your child is stuttering or experiencing common disfluencies as part of their speech development. There are several approaches a speech therapist will use to assess stuttering/fluency disorders, such as:

• Speaking to your child to determine the number and type of disfluencies
• Behavior related to stuttering includes frustration, avoidance, anger, etc.
• Attempts to stop stuttering, such as stopping and starting to speak again, stopping completely, etc.
• Ask your child how stuttering impacts their interactions, such as not having friends, not participating in school, being teased, etc.
• Assessing how your child says words and makes sounds during speech
• Comprehensive skill tests
• Seeing how your child expresses their thoughts when speaking

Once the assessment is complete, your child's therapist can provide a customized treatment strategy.

Often, the best approach is a combination of techniques known as fluency shaping to help improve speech fluency, such as:

• Improving vowel prolongation
• Breath management
• Easy phrase initiation
• Light contacts on consonant sounds
• Slowed stretched speech
• Smooth movement
• Stretched speech

For example, slowed speech focuses on deliberate and slow speaking, stretching out each syllable in a word for a full two seconds. As your child masters this process, they can begin to speed up their speech until they reach typical fluency rates of 150 syllables a minute.