Stammering
Stammering usually starts in early childhood, between the ages of two and three. About 5% of children will go through a phase of non-fluent speech. About four out of five of these children will recover spontaneously, but one out of five will not.
Research has shown that therapy has the highest rate of success in overcoming stammering if started before the child reaches school age.
There is no known cause although a genetic predisposition has been identified as one of the risk factors. There is no evidence that parents cause a child's stammer, although their behaviour can be crucial in helping their child overcome stammering at this developmental stage.
Stammering is more than a speech problem – it impacts on many aspects of a child's communication and can have severe consequences on the child's social and educational development.
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