Child stuttering; should I be worried?

Child onset fluency disorder(stuttering)- This refers to the occasional disturbances in the normal fluency and time patterning of speech that are inappropriate to the individual’s age and language skills persist over time. The onset range from 2-7 years. Most of the time they start gradually but it can occur suddenly as well.

• The child may not be aware of these dysfluencies initially but as the disorder progresses the disturbances become more frequent and interfering occurring in most meaningful words or phrases in the utterances.
• As the child grows up and becomes more aware of the frequencies help she may avoid occasions that involve public speaking, telephoning and instead use short and simple words to avoid stuttering. The speaker may also adjust the rate of speech ( slower or faster, avoiding certain words
• The child onset fluency disorder is accompanied by motor movements like eye blinks tics, lips tremors and face tremors, jerking of the head, increase in breathing movements, and fist-clenching.
• The magnitude of disturbance varies from situation to situation. It is extreme in situations where there is pressure to communicate. E.g class speech, interviews, reporting to school. dysfluency is absent during oral reading, singing, talking to pets and inanimate objects
• Children with fluency disorder show arrange of language abilities so the relationship between fluency disorders and language abilities is unclear
• Most of the children recover from stuttering and the age of eight or just at the beginning of adolescence.

CHILDHOOD FLUENCY DISORDER CHARACTERIZED BY ;​

1. Words are pronounced with excess physical tension
2. Monosyllabic words repetitions (e.g. I-I-I-I-I don’t want.)
3. Circumlocutions( using alternative words to avoid problematic words)
4. Silent or audible blocking(filled and unfilled pauses in speech)
5. Broken words (e.g. pauses within a word)
6. Sound prolongations of consonants as well as vowels e.g. (you ca-a-a-a-not)
7. Sound and syllable repetitions

Hello,

Shuttering is natural, am not sure if is something which can be cured through medication, though for children of that range may experience some sort of disoder when they are struggling to be fluent.

My advise consult ENT practitioner can advise the best way forward.