Stuttering

Children seem to be most disfluent during the preschool years, particularly during the ages of 2 – 4. Generally, revisions, interjections, and word and phrase repetitions are very common in children’s speech. Sound and syllable repetition, sound prolongation, and broken words are less common. However, there is a wide range of behavior considered to be normal. Most children show each type of disfluency from time to time. This is considered to be normal disfluency.

While disfluency is common in most children, certain patterns of disfluent speech are not quite as typical. The presence of some of these behaviors may indicate that the child is having disfluency and beginning to react to the interruptions:
– Frequent sound and syllable repetition
– Syllable repetition in which an uh vowel replaces the correct vowel in the word (puh-puh-peach)
– Frequent prolongation of sounds that become longer in duration
– Tremors (trembling of the muscles) round the mouth or jaw during speech
– Rises in pitch or loudness of the voice during the prolongation of sounds
– Tension and struggle behavior while saying certain words
– A look of fear in the child’s face while saying a word
– Avoidance of or delay in saying certain words