Did You Know...

• Up to 5% of school aged children stutter
• Stuttering usually begins gradually between 2-5 years of age
• Stuttering can be treated at any age but treatment will have the best and fastest results for preschool aged children
• People who stutter have days when they are more fluent than others
• Stuttering has no link to intelligence or IQ

What is Stuttering?

Stuttering is a speech disorder where the person knows what he/she wants to say but at the time may be unable to say it.

Types of Stuttering

Your friend may show some or all of the following types of stuttering:

• Repetition - of sounds (e.g. c-c-c-cat), syllables (e.g. ca-ca-ca-cat), words (e.g. cat-cat-cat-cat) or phrases (the cat, the cat, the cat jumped)
• Prolongation - of sounds (e.g. m-->y)
• Inappropriate Pauses - between sounds or words
• Blocking - getting stuck on sounds and nothing comes out28

Your friend may also show other behaviours when they are stuttering:

• Facial or body tension, tremors and movement
• Eye blinking
• Lack of eye contact
• Fillers - meaningless words usually used to begin sentences to avoid stuttering (e.g. um, like, you know, but, then)30

What Causes Stuttering?

• Stuttering is a speech co-ordination problem and is like any other motor activity such as riding a bike. When you are excited, nervous or tired your riding is not as good as it normally would be. This is the same with stuttering - it can increase when the person is tired, excited or nervous.
• For co-ordinated speech, your brain sends messages to your speech muscles very quickly and they move very quickly in response. So for your speech to be smooth, your speech muscles must be well co-ordinated19. Speech needs a very specific sequence of co-ordinated movements. For people who stutter, this sequence is often interrupted)39.
• The exact underlying cause is unknown. However, research has shown that stuttering runs in families.

Situations Where Some People Who Stutter Speak More Fluently

• Speaking alone
• Feel relaxed
• Speaking or reading in unison with another speaker
• Speaking to an animal or infant
• Singing
• Putting on a voice or accent
• Acting
• Writing simultaneously
• During automatic responses such as swearing12

How to Help Your Friend Who Stutters

If you have a friend who stutters or know someone who stutters, here are some things that may help when you are talking with them:

• Speak how you normally would
• Be a good listener - be patient
• Listen to what your friend is saying and not how it is said
• Look at your friend when they are talking
• Try not to look embarrassed
• Try not to interrupt
• Try not to fill in words or finish off your friend's sentences - this can be frustrating for your friend who stutters!
• Try to avoid giving advice such as "take a deep breath". Although you mean well, these suggestions hardly ever help!
• Talk about stuttering openly. Your friend may be happy that you are taking an interest.
• Choose an appropriate time to ask your friend who stutters if there is anything you can do to help them when you are talking with each other
• Remember that a friend who stutters is just like you


• Look out for your friends - talk to each other about teasing and bullying. Brainstorm some ideas about how to deal with teasing and bullying. Click here for some suggestions! Or keep reading below for some quick facts about teasing and bullying15,1.

Why not check out Good Communication Skills for some information about how to be a good communicator and get some tips for starting conversations!

Teasing and Bullying

Did You Know...

• 82% of school children who stutter are teased and bullied because they stutter4.
• Bullying may affect the way you feel about yourself. You may feel embarrassed, emotional or ashamed about your stuttering.

• Teasing and bullying can be either physical e.g. punching, verbal e.g. mimicking (pretending to stutter) or emotional e.g. excluding people from groups or activities.

Teasing and bullying is not acceptable. Don't make excuses. Teasing and bullying should not be excused regardless of the place, the time or type of teasing and bullying4.

There are many ways to deal with being teased and bullied. Click here to find out how to use strategies such as avoiding, confronting, ignoring, talking to someone and making a joke of it.