It's Okay to Talk to Children About Their Stuttering!

Speech-language pathologists and parents of young children who stutter have long been warned not to talk to children about stuttering for fear that drawing attention to the childrens speech makes the stuttering worse.¹ The idea originates with a decades-old theory suggesting that parental reactions to normal disfluencies cause children to become concerned about their speech and therefore develop true stuttering.²Today, we know that this is not true.

Talking to children about stuttering will not make them worse. In fact, it can help them overcome the challenges associated with stuttering!³

Talking About Stuttering Does Not Cause Stuttering

Historically, researchers and clinicians thought that preschool children were too young to know that they stuttered. We feared that children would develop negative reactions to their speech if they understood their difficulty talking.¹ We went to great lengths to try to keep children from developing awareness about their speaking challenges. These included using only indirect approaches to treatment, like avoiding talk about stuttering in front of the child, and sometimes we even stoppedusing the word stuttering altogether!

Recent research shows that even very young children may be aware of stutteringand some acutely so.^4-7The traditional strategy of ignoring stuttering is no longer appropriate.

In the 1990s, clinicians started using more direct treatment approaches with young children who stutter.⁸ Some of these approaches involved directly acknowledging stuttering to the childand others directly taught children speech management strategies.

Numerous research studies show that such treatments do not increase stuttering.⁸ Most children respond favorably to learning about speaking and stuttering, and the vast majority recover from stuttering completely. Therefore, we now know that it is okay to talk to children about stuttering.

Coloring Outside the Lines

Once we acknowledge that talking about stuttering is okay, the question becomes, what should we say?

Our best understanding of how children respond to early stuttering suggests that clinicians and parents should respond to stuttering the same way that they address any other difficulty a child may have when learning a complicated skill.^3,9,10

For example, when young children learn to color, they often do so outside the lines. When this happens, parents dont ignore the childs drawing or pretend not to notice that the child colored outside the linesespecially if the child asks about it or expresses concern about it (as young children often mention or express concern about stuttering). Instead, they acknowledge the difficulty and let the child know that its okay to color outside the lines. They may say, Oh yes, lots of children color outside the lines when theyre learning to color, but I really like the picture you drew! This helps children know that they have nothing to fear. It also helps them accept mistakes as part of the learning process and prevents them from developing negative reactions.¹⁰

We can respond in the same way with stuttering. When children express concern about their speech, we can reassure them that trouble getting words out is just part of their learning. We can affirm for them that we are interested in what they are saying, not how they are saying it. This helps them learn to speak freely, whether or not they stutter. Speaking with confidence creates successful communication. Therefore, talking about stuttering can actually prevent the negative communicative experiences that plague older children and adults who stutter.

Changing Your Approach

It can be hard at first for clinicians to overcome years of conditioning that they should not talk about stuttering. Still, our experience suggests that it gets easier. When clinicians see that children respond well to knowing they stutter, this can open up a whole new world for stuttering therapy. Its okay to talk about stutteringthe benefits for children, parents, and clinicians are clear. Give it a try. You can do it!

Learn more about stuttering therapy from Dr. Yaruss by pre-ordering his new book, Early Childhood Stuttering Therapy: A Practical Guide.