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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Will speech therapy definitely help with stuttering?

    Related Topics
    Children's Health Stuttering
    My child stutters and I am going to bring her to a speech pathologist. What is the prognosis? Can people completely eliminate stuttering from their speech through therapy?
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  • 2

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    Gail Rogers

    Speech Pathologist

    Gail's passionate interest in working in the area of voice, communication & swallowing challenges developed after working as Speech and Language Pathologist with many different clientele in various … View Profile

    Great news that you are taking your child to a Speech Pathologist as that is the first and best step to take !  A Speech Pathologist is trained to assess & diagnose stuttering issues and also to provide you with an appropriate management program for your child to reduce or control their speech dysfluency.  There is however no known cure for stuttering as the exact cause of these issues has not been proven by research as different individuals have different reasons for their stutter along with associated factors increasing their dysfluency.  

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    Sharon Moore

    Speech Pathologist

    I am a Speech Pathologist with 30 years clinical experience, working over the years with a wide range of clients with communication and swallowing disorders. … View Profile

    1. A child's response to stuttering treatment depends on many factors, including the experience and background of your Speech Pathologist and your child and family's ability to participate fully in the program goals. Other issues including the length of time that your child has been stuttering, your child's awareness of the difficulty and the degree to which it is interfering with communication, the severity of the stuttering, precipitating factors and any anxiety that may have developed around the stuttering. There are more factors to consider in any assessment that will impact on the success of therapy. As Gail has said, the best thing is to have a thorough assessment and then a treatment program designed specifically around your child's needs. Treatment encourages the child to adopt a new rate, rhythm and flow of speech that interrupts the dysfluent patterns, and programming differs according to the child's age. Many do really well, and early intervention is encouraged. The prognosis for your child depends on many factors and can be evaluated by your Speech Pathologist. All the best

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  • Rachel Tosh

    Speech Pathologist

    Rachel is a speech pathologist specialising in speech, language, literacy and feeding therapy with more than 10 years of experience. Her aim is to help … View Profile

    Just to add to the excellent answers already provided if a child receives therapy prior to approximately 7 years of age (the earlier the better generally) the prognosis is very good for a full resolution of their stuttering. There is also some evidence to indicate that girls who stutter are more likely to have a family history of stuttering, are less likely to resolve without treatment and may require more therapy than boys. So the prognosis is much better for your child with intervention than leaving it go so you are definitely doing the right thing to help your daughter by seeking assistance from a qualified speech pathologist. 

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  • Jenny Alkemade

    Speech Pathologist

    Jenny has extensive experience working with preschool and school aged children. Particular interest areas areas are language, fluency (stuttering), Autism and literacy. View Profile

    The Lidcombe approach has a high success rate of eliminating stuttering in preschoolers. This is generally the approach used in Australia with young children.

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