What Causes Stuttering?

Stuttering is a communication disorder that affects the normal flow of a person’s speech. Also called stammering, stuttering usually begins between the ages of two and five years old and typically occurs in more males than females. In stuttering, speech can be repetitive, prolonged, or stopped while attempting to communicate. Stuttering affects over seventy million people worldwide, with three million being affected in the United States alone. This shows that stuttering is fairly common and approximately five percent of children will temporarily go through a period of stuttering that typically lasts six months or longer. Only one percent of those children will develop a long-term problem. Discover the common causes of stuttering now.

Childhood Development

Children begin their journey of speech development as early as infancy. Babies learn to communicate their needs through cries and later, begin to express happiness through coos and babbles. Typically, between twelve to eighteen months, their first word will be spoken. It is normal for children to go through periods during their progression of language development where stuttering becomes more common, usually between two to five years old. Many times, stuttering will resolve itself, however, sometimes the involvement of a speech-language pathologist may be necessary. If stuttering lasts over six months, involves facial or other muscular tics, causes anxiety, or severely impacts the child’s ability to communicate, an evaluation from a speech-language pathologist may be necessary for early intervention, as these signs are not part of anaverage child's development.

Continue reading to learn the role genetics play.

Genetics

It has been shown that stuttering has the potential to run in families. If a child has a parent or grandparent who stuttered, they are more likely to stutter themselves. Stuttering that has been inherited occurs from an abnormality in the area of the brain that processes language. Researchers in the field of genetics now know that over half of all stuttering cases have a genetic cause. While the prevalence of stuttering among family members is high, the severity of the situation does not seem to have genetic influences. For example, if a family member has a severe case of stuttering, another family member may also stutter but only mildly. Geneticists have observed that there is not one certain gene that causes stuttering, but rather, many different genes.

Next, find out how stress can cause a child to stutter.