Approximately 5% of children will experience stuttering. Many will recover by late childhood with adult support or intervention, but it is best to respond as soon as possible, as early intervention can help mitigate later difficulties.
Whether you’re concerned about your own child, the child of a friend, or merely want to be more educated about stuttering, the Stuttering Foundation has several free resources available.
They are the largest global nonprofit that works toward “the prevention and improved treatment of stuttering,” and reaches over a million people every year.
The Stuttering Foundation has recently donated their DVD, “Kids Who Stutter: Parents Speak”, to multiple libraries nationwide. You can easily view it for free at home here.
While the Ann Arbor District Library does not have the DVD, they can fill out this form to request the physical DVD if a patron asks for it.
“Kids Who Stutter: Parents Speak” is incredibly accessible at only 16 minutes. But those 16 minutes are chock full of supportive, helpful information.
Parents who are concerned about their children who stutter meet with some of the world’s leading hands-on therapists and speech-language experts, who speak with them about their experiences while engaging with the children.
Stuttering can bring up a multitude of concerns for parents, not least of which is worry over what caused the stuttering. The Stuttering Foundation website states, “Children and adults who stutter are no more likely to have psychological or emotional problems than children and adults who do not. There is no reason to believe that emotional trauma causes stuttering.”
The Stuttering Foundation also offers their resource, “If You Think Your Child is Stuttering“, to help parents evaluate and determine whether or not their child is stuttering, and what to do about it. They have a database of speech-language pathologists that list experts by state or country.
Check out the Stuttering Foundation for more information.