Stuttering

Stuttering is diagnosed by a healthcare professional trained to evaluate and treat children and adults who have a problem with speech and language. This professional is called a speech-language pathologist. The speech-language pathologist listens and talks with the adult or child in different types of situations.

If you’re the parent

If you’re the parent of a child who stutters, the primary healthcare professional or speech-language pathologist may:

• Ask questions about your child’s health history, including when your child began stuttering and when stuttering happens most often.
• Ask questions about how stuttering affects your child’s life, such as relationships with others and school performance.
• Talk to your child. This may include asking your child to read aloud to watch for subtle differences in speech.
• Look for clues that can tell if the stuttering is part of usual child development or something that’s likely to be a long-term condition.
• Learn about your child’s communication skills more broadly. This may include testing how well your child understands what is said and how accurately your child produces speech sounds.

If you’re an adult who stutters

If you’re an adult who stutters, your primary healthcare professional or speech-language pathologist may:

• Ask questions about your health history, including when you began stuttering and when stuttering happens most often.
• Rule out an underlying health condition that could cause stuttering.
• Want to know what treatments you’ve tried in the past. This can help decide what type of treatment may be best now.
• Ask questions to better understand how stuttering affects you.
• Want to know how stuttering affects your relationships, school performance, career and other areas of your life, and how much stress it causes you.