What do we do?

Our Stammering Specialist works with people of all ages who stammer; from young children to adults.

Where do we work?

Our Stammering Specialist works in clinics at Devonshire House and Retford Hospital, and also run virtual clinics including telephone consultations and video calls.

What to expect?

For children under 6:

The child will be offered an appointment at one of our clinics to see a Speech and Language Therapist. This appointment aims to gather information and assess the child’s overall communication skills. Following this, the Speech and Language Therapist will provide advice and information tailored to the child, and make a plan around whether they need to be seen again or not. A lot of the advice given at this stage is about how people around the child, especially close family, can help.

For children over 6:

The Speech and Language Therapy Stammering Specialist will usually arrange a parent-only telephone consultation to gather information about the child and their stammer, without them present. Following this, if it is decided that it would be helpful to see the child directly, a further appointment (either face to face or video call) will be arranged. Options of what our service offers following this includes: liaison with the child’s school or college, regular follow-up sessions, 1:1 therapy and/or group therapy.

For adults:

The Speech and Language Therapy Stammering Specialist will arrange an initial appointment (either face to face or video call) to gather information and talk to the person who stammers about their stammer and how it impacts them. During this first session the therapist will also aim to understand what the person who stammers wants to achieve from accessing Speech and Language Therapy.

Other information

Pre-School/Young Children

About Developmental Stammering

Stammering in young children is not uncommon. Up to 8% of children stammer during childhood. Some continue to stammer into later childhood and adulthood, and some do not. Stammering is not caused by being nervous; it is where the neural pathways for speaking (pathways that send messages from one part of the brain to another) develop slightly differently. This means that for some people, the speaking process will not be as smooth and they will stammer.

Stammering is also referred to as stuttering or dysfluency.

Children between the ages of 2 and 6 often experience stammering alongside a surge in their language development; they start to use a wider range of complex vocabulary and sentences, which adds a higher level of demand on their speech system. For some children, the stammer will go away naturally and for some it won’t. It isn’t possible to accurately predict which children will continue stammering; but the things that you can do to help them to be a comfortable and happy communicator are the same, whether or not they continue to stammer.

What you can do to help a young child who stammers

When you are listening to the child, show that you are interested in what they say, not how they say it.
Make sure your own speech is slow and clear, and that you pause for a second before speaking. This will ensure that conversations are not hurried, and it will help the child to speak more slowly and easily. This is more likely to help them to slow their speech down than simply saying ‘slow down’.
Give the child enough time to talk; be patient, wait, listen, do not rush them. Although it may be tempting, don’t finish their sentences, interrupt or predict what they have to say. We want them to continue being able to get their message across independently and in their own time, and if they stammer whilst they do this, that’s ok. Don’t tell them to stop stammering, it isn’t a choice. If they are rushing and getting stuck, let them know that it is fine for them to take their time.
Encourage all children in the family or educational setting, including the child who stammers, to ensure that they take turns with others when talking.
Do not tell the child to ‘slow down’, ‘start again’, ‘take a deep breath’, or think before they speak etc., as this often won’t help and could add to their frustration.
Maintain normal, natural eye contact, don’t look away, just listen and wait… this shows that you are interested in what they have to say and are listening, especially during moments of stammering.
Reduce the number of questions that you ask. Too many questions, especially ones that require complicated answers, can be difficult for a child who stammers. Make sure that you give the child time to answer one question before asking another. If you know they are having a tricky day with their talking, ask closed questions that put less pressure on them to produce a long spoken response (e.g. rather than ‘what do you want to do?’ you could ask ‘do you want to do this or that?’). Keep your language simple if this helps them.
Avoid using negative language such as ‘bad’ or ‘worse’ around them (e.g. ‘the stammer is getting worse’). This may lead them to believe that stammering is negative and not acceptable. Try to use neutral descriptions such as ‘it is happening more’ or ‘it seems more tense’.
Build the child’s confidence by praising them for things they do well. This might include other areas of communication e.g. ‘that was a good word!’, or ‘you explained that really well’. There is much more to being a successful communicator than speaking without stammering.
Be consistent when responding to their behaviour. Respond in a normal way, just as you would if they did not stammer.
If they are having difficulties with their speaking, acknowledge this and give reassurance and encouragement – as you would do with any other difficulty they might have.
If the child communicates happily and appears unaware that they are stammering, there is no need to draw attention to it.

This video talks a little bit about why some children stammer.

Parents may wish to download ‘Penguin’; a mobile app by BeneTalk that empowers parents and caregivers to support children who stammer. You can find the app by searching ‘Penguin stammering’ into your phone’s app store, or visit their website here.

School-Aged Children

About Stammering

Up to 8% of children stammer during childhood. Some continue to stammer into later childhood and adulthood, and some do not. Stammering is not caused by being nervous; it is often a combination of factors, including where the neural pathways for speaking (pathways that send messages from one part of the brain to another) develop slightly differently. This means that for some people, the speaking process will not be as smooth and they will stammer.
Stammering is also referred to as stuttering or dysfluency.

Stammering affects the smooth flow of speech and is characterised by a number of different features including; repeating sounds and/or words, stretching out sounds (prolonging) or getting stuck starting or moving through a word (blocking). There can also be associated characteristics such as showing tension in the face/neck, having disrupted breathing patterns, stamping feet or tapping hands.
Stammering isn’t all about the speech characteristics that you can hear – there can be underlying/associated difficulties such as embarrassment or anger.
Understand that stammering can come and go for lots of different reasons. There may be a variation in the stammer depending on the situation (e.g. in a rushed environment where they need to compete to speak), the person they are speaking to (e.g. friends, strangers), how they feel (e.g. tired, anxious, excited) or what they are trying to say (e.g. using complicated language, talking about unfamiliar topics).
Some children and young people show little or no obvious signs of stammering. They may be swapping words or avoiding speaking in certain situations to try to maintain fluent speech. Although this may help them in that moment, it isn’t always helpful in the long run.
Stammering can be influenced by a combination of factors. Stammering is not caused by anxiety or nervousness, though this can sometimes cause people to stammer more.
Although there is no ‘cure’ for stammering, there is a lot that can be done to improve the situation and to help a child or young person manage their stammering more confidently, to have more control over their stammering and how they feel about it.

What you can do to support children and young people who stammer

Listen to what they say, not how they are saying it
Give them enough time to talk; be patient, wait, listen, do not rush them. Although it may be tempting, don’t finish their sentences, interrupt or predict what they have to say. We want them to continue being able to get their message across independently and in their own time, and if they stammer whilst they do this, that’s ok. Don’t tell them to stop stammering, it isn’t a choice. If they are rushing and getting stuck, let them know that it is fine for them to take their time.

Make sure your own speech is slow and clear, and that you pause for a second before speaking. This will ensure that conversations are not hurried, and it will help the child to speak more slowly and easily. This is more likely to help them to slow their speech down than simply saying ‘slow down’.
Be aware that they may stammer more when they are put ‘on the spot’, for example, in response to direct questions. At these times, it is particularly important to allow them time to finish. It might be helpful to reduce the number of questions that you ask. Too many questions, especially ones that require complicated answers, can be difficult for someone who stammers. Make sure that you give time to answer one question before asking another. If you know they are having a tricky day with their talking, ask closed questions that put less pressure on them to produce a long spoken response (E.g. rather than ‘what do you want to do?’ you could ask ‘do you want to do this or that?’). You can also re-word direct questions into comments, which again puts less pressure on them (e.g. rather than ‘what did you have for lunch today?’ you could say ‘I had pasta for my lunch today. I wonder what you had’.) Keep your language simple if this helps them.
Reinforce turn-taking rules. Although it is important to let children who stammer finish their sentences, it is also important that they understand and follow the same turn-taking rules as others.
Maintain normal eye contact, don’t look away, just listen and wait… this shows that you are interested in what they have to say and are listening, especially during moments of stammering.
DON’T: Finish their sentences, interrupt or predict what they have to say… • Ask too many direct questions… • Tell them to stop stammering… • Get angry or impatient, or rush them… • Tell them to slow down, repeat themselves, ‘think about what they are saying’ or ‘take a breath’. This won’t help – and it might in fact make talking more difficult.

Additional Advice for Schools:

Tell all adults around them about the child’s stammer. In school, make sure that cover and supply teachers (and all other staff that they will come into contact with such as lunchtime supervisors) are kept up to date with any strategies that need to be in place to support them.
Find out whether there are things that they want to do more of, or whether there are particular tasks that really worry them e.g. reading aloud, answering questions, etc. See if they have any suggestions of what you could do to help (e.g. raise hand for the register instead of answering verbally, or have an earlier turn in reading tasks). If necessary, be flexible with spoken tasks in class; does there have to be a time limit? Does it have to be presented in front of the whole class?
Build the child’s confidence by praising them for things they do well. This might include other areas of communication e.g. ‘that was a good word!’, or ‘you explained that really well’. There is much more to being a successful communicator than speaking without stammering.
Deal with bullying immediately. If you identify that the child is being picked on, talk to the pupils alone and explain that this is unacceptable.

Video for parents: My Stammering Child

Video for children: My Stammering Tap

Video: I don’t need to be fixed – what I wish the world understood about stammering

Adults

An adult who stammers may benefit from Speech and Language Therapy if it is causing them a problem. The negative impact of stammering might include feeling unable to express yourself or speak as openly as you may like to, feeling held back or discriminated against at work, or avoiding conversations/social situations/phone calls because of the stammer.

It might help to get in touch with other people who stammer. Find out about Doncaster Stammering Association here.

The STAMMA website: STAMMA – Get Support would be a good place to start when looking into learning more about stammering and things that could help, including reading about the experiences of other people who stammer.

Video: I don’t need to be fixed – what I wish the world understood about stammering

Pre-School/Young Children

School-Aged Children

Adults

Other Links