Stuttering / Fluency

Fluency refers to the continuity, smoothness, rate and effort with which language is spoken. When children have disruptions in the flow of their speech, it is called disfluency. Almost all children demonstrate some disfluency as they develop language. However, when a child is very disfluent and understanding their message is difficult, it is important to connect with your school’s SLP.

• Many children go through different phases of speech disfluency as they learn to talk. Most children are unaware of their disfluencies and are not embarrassed or frustrated by them.
• Children outgrow these developmental disfluencies by age 7 or 8. However, some situations may make a child more likely to be disfluent (e.g., when very excited or when put on the spot to give an answer).
• When children with disfluencies have a hard time getting their message across, they can become frustrated. It is important for listeners to know how to help support a child with disfluencies in a conversation.