For parents and family
Your child stutters: what helps at home
Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental speech disorder with a strong genetic component. It is not your fault, and it is not your child's: nothing in the way you raised them caused it. As many as 5 to 8% of children go through a period of stuttering, and about 3 in 4 recover naturally.
The way you respond day to day does not "cure" stuttering, but it deeply changes how your child experiences their own speech. This sheet takes two minutes to read and is meant to be shared with the grandparents, the babysitter, the whole family.
What really helps
- 1Slow down your own speech and leave pauses. A calm model helps more than any instruction: you set the temperature of the conversation.
- 2Let them finish their sentences, without filling in their words, and keep natural eye contact. They know what they want to say; they just need your time.
- 3Give them a short one-on-one talking time every day (five minutes of play or a story), with no screens and no watching the clock: a moment when their speech has all the room it needs.
- 4Respond to what they are telling you, not to how they say it. And ask one question at a time.
- 5If they bring up their stuttering, keep it simple: "sometimes words get stuck, you can take your time." Talking about it calmly takes the shame away; silence feeds it.
- 6Set up turn-taking in the family, especially with brothers and sisters: everyone gets their turn, nobody interrupts.
What to avoid
- "Take a breath", "calm down", "think before you speak", "say it again": this advice does not work and only adds pressure.
- Finishing their words or sentences for them, even to help.
- Showing impatience, or exchanging worried looks in front of them while they are talking.
- Correcting or commenting on their speech in front of others, or letting it become a source of tension at home.
- Acting as if nothing is happening when they want to talk about it: the taboo weighs more than the stuttering itself.
When to seek help? If the stuttering has lasted more than 6 to 12 months, if you notice effort or tension, if your child avoids speaking or worries about it, or if stuttering runs in the family: ask a speech-language pathologist (SLP) for an opinion without waiting. Seeing someone early has never done harm; waiting sometimes has.
