[Characteristics of childhood stuttering and suggestions for clinical practice]

Abstract

Disfluency in an early phase of infancy should be addressed in the light of differences between stuttering and normal disfluency. When a direct approach is applied to an child who has become aware of his/her stuttering, it is importance to first make the child confront his/her stuttering and try to change it, and then to create a calm atmosphere receptive to any stuttering. Stuttering complicated by developmental disorders is characterized by the absence of variation characteristic of the symptoms of disfluency, or less variability. Children with this type of stuttering show lower levels of the adaptation effect and expectation anxiety, and develop few collateral symptoms. Furthermore, while they are aware of their stuttering, such children show no tendency toward internalization such as negative feelings/attitudes or embarrassment associated with stuttering. These findings may be useful in clinical practice for stuttering in childhood.