Fluency – Stuttering

Fluency is known as the flow of speech. When there are breaks in speech, more than the average expected, this is known as stuttering. Stuttering is characterised by:

• Repetitions of sounds, syllables or words, for example, “a-a-apple,” “ap-ap-apple,” or “apple apple apple”
• Prolongation of sounds, for example, “aaaaapple” or “I waaaaant an apple”
• Inability to produce a sound at all during a short period of silence during speech, also known as blocking

What other things should I look out for in my child’s fluency?

• Additional body movements when stuttering, such as frequent blinking and movement of the head
• Worried or frustrated facial expressions
• Avoidance of some sounds, words or situations, such as group settings