Stammering

Also called Stuttering, Dysfluency

A neurological difference in speech production. Around 1.5% of adults, and finishing their sentences does not help.

What it is

Stammering is a neurological difference in how speech is produced. It is not caused by anxiety, by bad parenting, or by nervousness, though anxiety about speaking is a very reasonable consequence of it.

Around 8% of children stammer at some point, and most grow out of it. Around 1.5% of adults stammer.

The current thinking among many in the stammering community is worth understanding: the goal is not necessarily fluency. It is communicating freely and without shame, which is a different target and often a healthier one.

Signs you might notice

Repeating sounds, syllables or words. Prolonging sounds. Blocks, where no sound comes out at all.

Physical tension: facial grimacing, blinking, body movements.

Avoidance, which is the invisible part: swapping words, avoiding names, ordering something different in a café because it is easier to say.

Fluency varying enormously by situation. Fine at home, blocked on the phone.

How it can affect day-to-day life

Avoidance shapes lives more than the stammer does. People choose subjects, jobs and social situations around what they can say, and nobody sees the decision being made.

Interviews, phone calls and introductions are the reliable pressure points, and they are exactly the gateways to work.

Children who stammer are at higher risk of bullying, and adults report significant workplace discrimination. Stammering is covered by the Equality Act 2010.

Supporting someone well

Do not finish their sentences. Not to be helpful, not to save time. It communicates impatience and it takes away agency.

Keep natural eye contact and wait.

Do not tell somebody to slow down, take a breath, or relax. It rarely helps and it locates the problem in the person's effort.

Respond to what they said, not how they said it.

For a young child, reduce time pressure at home, slow your own speech, and refer early rather than waiting.

At work and school, allow written or recorded alternatives to on-the-spot speaking, and never require reading aloud unprepared.

Where to get help

Refer early for children. You can usually self-refer to NHS children's speech and language therapy.

STAMMA, the British Stammering Association, run a helpline and provide employer guidance.

For adults, therapy is available and so is peer support, and many people find the second more useful than the first.