WHAT IS STUTTERING
Stuttering is synonymous with stammering and is a disorder of fluency in speech characterised by repetitions of sounds or phrases, prolongations or complete 'blocks'.
These characteristics may appear mild and fleeting or can disrupt communication severely often being accompanied by tense movements in the face or other parts of the body. Stuttering tends to begin in early childhood (around the age of 2-3 years) and at this age is likely to come and go. A number of children recover from it naturally although this process and who is likely to benefit from it is still not fully understood. Older children and adults can experience among other things, frustration and embarrassment and may avoid situations as a result of it.
No-one is certain what causes stuttering and there is no known cure. We do know that whatever the cause, it only relates to speech production and not to other factors such as personality or intelligence. It is purely a problem of speech fluency; not language nor sound usage. Stuttering is four times more common in males than females (although this is more equal in children) and we know from research that it tends to run in families.