Nursery World - Tough talking

Early intervention is important with speech difficulties, and there is a lot that childcarers can do to help children who stammer, as Maggie Jones explains Stammering, or stuttering, is much more common in young children than people think. Five per cent of pre-school children stammer, which means that, at any one time, 188,000 children aged under five in the UK are affected. For the majority, stammering will be a phase they grow out of, but about a quarter to a third are at risk of developing a stammer in adult life unless they receive speech and language therapy in their early years.

Stammering, or stuttering, is much more common in young children than people think. Five per cent of pre-school children stammer, which means that, at any one time, 188,000 children aged under five in the UK are affected. For the majority, stammering will be a phase they grow out of, but about a quarter to a third are at risk of developing a stammer in adult life unless they receive speech and language therapy in their early years.

Likely patterns

Stammering commonly begins between the ages of two and five. Nobody knows what causes it. Children and adults vary in the fluency of their speech, from those who chatter away 19 to the dozen, to those who speak slowly with lots of 'ums' and 'ers', so stammering may simply be one end of this spectrum. There is a genetic component, as children of stammerers are more likely to develop a stammer themselves, and also many more boys than girls are affected - 80 per cent of stammerers are male.

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