Did you know that 12% of 4 year olds will stutter, with a majority going on to naturally recover. Factors that may influence a child’s natural recovery from stuttering may include:
- Being teased or bullied
- Having a negative attitude towards speaking
- Parental stress
We do know that the more severe the stuttering, the longer the treatment time required. Surprisingly, time from when the stuttering first occurs to when a child starts treatment does not predict how long treatment is required for remediation of stuttering. Choosing to intervene or not is a delicate balance of the above risk factors and priorities for each individual child and family.
Jones M, Onslow M, Harrison E & Packman A (2000). Treating stuttering in young children: predicting treatment time in the Lidcombe Program, Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 43, 1440-1450.