Stuttering Child

Children can develop a stutter at an early age and for the parents it can be a very worrying time.It is difficult to know what to do. Parents wonder if it is just an age thing or just a phase. They think about whether to take their child to some form of speech therapy, however worry that that might be an over-reaction.

I myself developed a stutter at the age of four or five. My mother had left work to look after me when I was born and I started to talk as normal. Everything was fine until I started school.My mother who now had more time on her hands decided to re-start work and I would now be going to a friend of the familys after school.This friend was called Jean and she had a son my age called Graham. On the first day I spent at her house everything was going well until Jean called us in for our evening meal. Meal times at my own house were a very relaxed affair, we were able to eat our food wherever we wanted to in the house.

At Jean's house they ate in a dining room around a dining table. There were a lot of people around the table who I did not know very well and eating in front of them all itself made me feel quite uncomfortable.During the meal people were asking me various questions and for whatever reason, I found it difficut to answer and started to stutter.This was the first day of my life as a stutterer.

My parents a few months later took me to speech therapy, the speech therapist advised them that most children will grow out of their stutter. I continued unfortunatelt to stutter until I was twenty two.

Stephen Hill

Stephen Hill has overcome a stutter and now helps other people to achieve fluency. He has a website at http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk.