The Developmental Nature and Effective Treatment of Stuttering in Children and Adolescents

Stuttering is a potentially debilitating disorder that begins as soon as children begin to talk. For at least 20% of those stuttering in their early years, it becomes a chronic problem into old age. This paper describes the nature of stuttering as it develops through childhood into adulthood. There have been multiple causal theories of stuttering proposed, and these can be divided into those that assume either a psychogenic or a physical etiology. Based on contemporary information, a multifactorial theory of stuttering is presented in which a physical disorder is assumed to cause stuttering, which is in itself influenced by multiple factors. Treatments that attempt to address an assumed psychogenic deficit have not been shown to substantially reduce stuttering. However, state-of-the-art treatments that attempt to address a physical deficit are presented, which conclusively show that stuttering can be substantially reduced for the majority. From the available evidence, stuttering should be now regarded as a physical developmental disorder that can be treated very effectively in children.