Between the age of 2 and 5, many children go through a period of hesitating with their words. The majority of them do naturally outgrow this normal non-fluency phase, but evidence shows that around a third of these children will develop persistent stuttering into adulthood.

This article outlines:

• The signs of stuttering
• The possible causes of stuttering
• What you can do to help your child if he/she is showing signs of stuttering
• Where to seek professional help

Speech Development

Nothing can describe the pride and joy of watching your child develop: the first smile, the first crawl, the first step and the first word.

Speech development, in particular, is one of the most rewarding experiences for parents to share with their children. An 18-month toddler would normally be able to use and understand about 20 words. Between 2 and 3 years of age, children go through a vocabulary explosion and are able to combine words to form short sentences. By the time a child is 4, a substantial part of spoken language development will have been established.

A child's flow of speech will not always be smooth, however. Many children go through a period of normal non-fluency between the ages of 2 and 5 when they are learning to speak. This non-fluency may take the form of the repetition of the first sound of a word (d-d-d-daddy), or of the first syllable (da-da-da-daddy ), or of the entire word (the-the-the cat).

The chances are that your child will not notice he is hesitating with his words, and the majority of children do naturally outgrow this non-fluency phase. However, studies show that for around a third of these children, this non-fluency phase will develop into persistent stuttering.