When to Worry About Stuttering: Will It Go Away?

Parents asking when to worry about stuttering can use one rule. If your child repeats sounds or parts of words, stretches sounds out or gets stuck before a word comes, have a speech pathologist look at it now, whatever your child’s age. Many children do stop stuttering without therapy. But nobody can say in advance which child will, and treatment has its best results before the age of six.

That rule is not a reason for alarm. Stuttering is common, it is not caused by anything a parent did, and an assessment does not commit a family to treatment. The sections below cover how to tell stuttering from ordinary stumbles, what research can and cannot predict, and the signs that mean do not wait.

Is it stuttering or normal disfluency?

Normal disfluency, which speech pathologists call typical disfluency, is the stumbling every speaker does, and children who are learning to build sentences do a lot of it. Stuttering sounds different. The break falls inside a word or just before it, where normal disfluency falls between whole words and ideas.

What you hear	Typical disfluency	Stuttering
Repeats	A phrase or a longer word said again, easily: “Can we, can we go to the beach?”	A sound, a syllable or a short word, often several times: “C-c-c-can we go?” “I-I-I-I want it.”
Pauses	Fillers and thinking time: “I want, um, the blue one.”	A block: your child is trying to speak and no sound comes out
Long sounds	Not usual	A sound held on: “Mmmmmum, look.”
Changes of mind	Starting the sentence again a different way: “We went, I saw a pelican.”	Swapping to another word because the first one will not come
Effort	Relaxed, and your child does not seem to notice	Sometimes tension, blinking, or movements of the face or head while trying to speak

These signs of stuttering are drawn from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Australian Stuttering Research Centre. The two columns overlap at the edges: Raising Children Network counts easy repeats of a whole word or phrase among the ways stuttering can show. Being unsure which column your child is in is a good reason for a stuttering assessment, where a speech pathologist listens to a sample of your child’s talking and tells you which it is.

Does stuttering go away on its own?

Stuttering does go away on its own for many children. What research cannot do is tell a parent whether their own child will outgrow it, or how long that would take.

The clearest Australian figures come from a Melbourne study that followed 1,619 children from infancy. By their fourth birthday about 11 per cent had started to stutter. Of 142 children followed for a year after their stuttering began, only 9 (about 6 per cent) had recovered within those 12 months. When the Melbourne children who had stuttered were seen again at age seven, 65 per cent had recovered. Reviews of the wider research put eventual recovery higher again, at roughly 88 to 91 per cent with or without treatment.

Taken together, the Melbourne figures and the reviews show that stuttering often resolves, but mostly over years, not months. The Australian Stuttering Research Centre states that it is not yet possible to say whether an individual child will recover naturally or will need therapy. For that reason it recommends therapy for every child who begins to stutter in the preschool years.

What can research predict about recovery, and what can it not?

Research has found factors that shift the odds of recovery from stuttering for groups of children. None of them settles the question for one child. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association introduces its own list by saying it is not possible to determine with certainty which children will continue to stutter.

Factor studied	What studies have found	The limit
Sex	Boys are more likely than girls to keep stuttering	Many boys recover, and some girls do not
Family history	Stuttering is more likely to persist when a relative’s stuttering persisted	A child with no family history can still keep stuttering, and a family history does not decide the outcome
Time since it started	Stuttering that has lasted more than 6 to 12 months, or has not eased over several months, is more likely to continue	In the Melbourne study few children had recovered at 12 months, yet about two in three had by age seven
Age when it started	Starting at three and a half or later is linked with stuttering that persists	An early start is no promise of recovery
Language skills	Slower language development, or another speech or language difficulty, is linked with persistence	In the Melbourne study, stronger early communication skills raised the odds of recovery for girls, not boys

These factors help a speech pathologist decide how closely to watch a child and how soon to begin. They do not work as a home test, because a child with none of them can still keep stuttering.

My child started stuttering suddenly. Is that normal?

Yes. Stuttering that starts suddenly is a well-known pattern, including in toddlers, and it does not mean something frightening has happened. Stuttering most often begins between two and four, when children are starting to join words into sentences. The Australian Stuttering Research Centre notes that the start can be gradual or sudden, and mild or severe. Raising Children Network describes children who wake up one day with a stutter, and the Lidcombe Program’s information for parents puts sudden starts at about one case in three. (The Melbourne study, which counted starts over one to three days, found about half.)

A toddler who was talking smoothly last week and is now saying “I-I-I-I” has done what many children who stutter do. Stuttering in young children also comes and goes: it can stop for days or weeks and then return, so a quiet fortnight does not show that it has gone.

The rare exception is stuttering that begins after a head injury, or together with other new symptoms of illness. Stuttering can follow head trauma, a stroke or another injury to the brain, and in that situation a doctor comes first. For every other child a GP visit is optional. No referral is needed to see a speech pathologist, although Medicare rebates are available with a doctor’s referral.

Why is my child stuttering?

Stuttering is a physical condition that involves genetics and the way the brain manages the movements of speech. It is not caused by nervousness, by stress or by the way parents talk with their children, although stress and excitement can make stuttering that is already there more noticeable. The guide to what causes stuttering sets out the research.

What are the signs that mean do not wait?

Any stuttering is reason enough for an assessment. These signs mean the assessment should not be put off:

Effort or struggle. Your child tenses, pushes to get a word out, blinks, or moves their face or head while trying to speak.
Your child has noticed. They show frustration, give up on sentences, swap words or go quiet. Some children show frustration soon after stuttering begins.
It has lasted several months, or is getting worse. Stuttering that is not easing is more likely to continue.
A relative stuttered and kept stuttering. Family history is one of the factors linked with persistence.
Your child is four or five. Clinical trials show the best results from treatment before the age of six, so the remaining time before school matters.
Your child is at school or in high school. Raising Children Network notes that stuttering at primary school can bring frustration, embarrassment, avoiding class discussions and a greater chance of bullying, and that teenagers who stutter can develop stress or anxiety about it. None of the sources used for this guide recommends waiting at these ages.

Is there ever a case for waiting?

There is a case for a short, watched wait, and it is a decision a speech pathologist makes with a family after an assessment, not one a parent makes alone by counting stutters. The Melbourne study concluded that harm is not the norm in the first year after stuttering begins. The treatment guide for the Lidcombe Program has the speech pathologist and the parent decide together on the best time for a child to start. So an assessment for a three year old who began stuttering a month ago may end with a plan to monitor and a date to review.

What the evidence does not support is waiting with no end date. The Australian Stuttering Research Centre notes that stuttering for some years can be harmful even when natural recovery follows. The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network advises getting help early, because stuttering can be harder to treat as children get older.

What should I do next?

The next step for a child who is stuttering is an assessment with a speech pathologist, and what follows depends on age:

Ages 2 to 5. The page on stuttering in toddlers and preschoolers explains what help looks like before school, including the Lidcombe Program.
Ages 6 to 12. Stuttering in school-aged children covers what changes once a child is at school.
Ages 13 to 17. Stuttering in teenagers covers therapy in which the speech pathologist works with the young person directly.

What stuttering is, and how it changes with age, is covered in stuttering in children, and the other guides for parents take up the questions that follow. Dr Lauren Crumlish (PhD) is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist who works with children and teenagers who stutter, by video, Australia wide. She assesses your child, sets the plan and leads the therapy from there. Families can apply to work with Dr Lauren.