Stammering

Stammering is a type of speech dysfluency characterised by prolonged hesitations or repetitions of sounds, syllables or whole words. People who stammer may also experience ‘blocking’ when they stop during speech and make no sound.  The British Stammering Association states that 5% or more of children under the age of five will go through a phase of stammering at some stage in their speech and language development and about 1% of the adult population stammers; around 80% of adults who stammer are men.

Stammering is complex and the exact causes of are not known, but are thought to be a combination of physical,neurological, environmental and psychological factors. Although speech therapy can help improve fluency for some people, there is no ‘cure’; each stammerer is different and so will respond differently to therapies.

For more information, visit www.stammering.org