What Is Stuttering?
Stuttering is characterized by a lack of fluent speech. Children who stutter may experience repetitions of sound, syllables and/or words (e.g. “I w-w-w-w-ant that”), prolongations or stretching of sounds (e.g. “mmmmmmom”), or blocks of airflow or voicing (“s——-trawberry”). They may also experience secondary behaviours of stuttering, which may include avoiding words or situations during which they typically stutter, eye blinking, breathing movements, head jerking, or interjection of filler words such as “um”.
Causes
It is not your fault that your child stutters! There is no single cause of stuttering. Research suggests that a combination of genetics, environment, and your child’s temperament may lead your child to stutter. Many children go through a phase of “typical disfluency”, however, your child should be seen for an assessment if they have been stuttering for over 6 months.
Assessment
Our Speech-Language Pathologists will gather a detailed case history, assess your child’s fluency in a variety of speaking tasks, and assess their feelings and attitude towards stuttering. You may be asked to bring in a video sample of their conversational speech at home.
Treatment at Butterfly
Early intervention is key for treatment of stuttering! It is recommended that children receive treatment between the ages of 3-5 for best outcomes. However, intervention at any age can help improve stuttering. Parental involvement in treatment for stuttering is essential for success!
Treatment varies depending on the individual child, but may include: education about stuttering, strategies to decrease disfluencies and to make talking easier, and discussion surrounding feelings and attitude towards stuttering.
Our Speech Language Pathologists use the following approaches for fluency:
- The Lidcombe Program for Stuttering for younger children
- Essential Pause tools
To book an assessment or for more information on Fluency Disorders please email info@butterflytherapy.com or call us at 905-206-0300.