Fluency

What is "Fluency"?

How do I know if my child is stuttering?

There are many types of speech disfluency, some of which are considered developmental or “normal” and some of which indicate stuttering as indicated in bold.

Disfluency Type Example

Sound/Syllable Repetitions “See the cute b-b-b-baby.”

Sound prolongation “Mmmmore cake please.”

Broken word “I was g-(pause)-oing home.”

Mono-syllable whole word repetition “I-I-I can’t do that.”

Multi-syllable whole word repetition “She really really is here.”

Phrase repetition “I was going I was going to invite them.”

Interjection (e.g. um, like, uh, you know) “I will, you know, be late.”

Revision “She is-she was here.”

Strategies to help the child who stutters

• Speak with the child in an unhurried way, pausing frequently.
• Reduce the number of questions you ask your child.
• Help all members of the class/family learn to take turns speaking and listening.
• Use your facial expressions, eye contact, and other body language to convey to the child that you are listening.
• Set aside a few minutes at a regular time each day when you can give your undivided attention to your child to communicate with them.
• Maintain natural eye contact with and wait patiently for the child to finish speaking.
• Above all, convey that you accept your child as he is.

How do I know if my child is cluttering?

Cluttering is a fluency disorder with the following characteristics:

• rapid and/or irregular speech rate

Which must be further accompanied by one or more of the following:

• excessive "normal" disfluencies
• excessive collapsing or deletion of syllables
• abnormal pauses, syllable stress, or speech rhythm

If you feel that your child is stuttering or cluttering, please contact us.