No, You Didn’t Cause Your Child’s Stutter: 5 Myths Neuroscience Can Put to Rest

Your child repeats a sound for the first time, and maybe you barely notice it. But, the more time that passes, the more you notice that they are having increasing difficulty saying certain words that they had not had trouble with before. Your mind starts racing, searching for an explanation as my mother had. Did I talk too quickly around them? Have I been correcting their speech too much? Are they anxious? Are they not comfortable around me? For generations, theories about stuttering gave parents plenty of reasons to ask those questions. Stuttering was often attributed to nervousness, emotional conflict, parenting styles, and even the way parents reacted to perfectly normal childhood conflicts. However, modern research tells a different story. Developmental stuttering is increasingly understood as a complex neurodevelopmental condition. Genetics contribute to a child’s likelihood of stuttering, and researchers have identified specific differences in developing brain networks responsible for planning, timing, monitoring, and coordinating speech (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association [ASHA], n.d.; Chang et al., 2019; National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders [NIDCD], 2017). In essence, a child does not begin stuttering because a parent talked too quickly, asked too many questions, made them uncomfortable, or somehow raised them inadequately (ASHA, n.d.; Miles & Ratner, 2001). You did not cause your child’s stutter. 

Myth #1: “Something I did caused my child’s stutter”

Speech feels effortless because most of us never have to think about it; but, in reality, something as simple as producing even a single sound takes a miraculous amount of coordination and planning in the brain. Before a child can say even a simple sentence, their brain must select words, arrange sounds, prepare movements, regulate breathing and voice, and coordinate extraordinarily precise movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and larynx—all while continuously monitoring the speech being produced. This all must occur remarkably quickly (NIDCD, 2017). Research increasingly suggests that developmental stuttering involves differences within this larger speech-production system. Neuroimaging studies of children who stutter have found differences in brain regions and pathways involved in speech and motor control, including white-matter connections linking areas involved in producing and monitoring speech (Chang et al., 2019; Chow & Chang, 2017). One pathway researchers have repeatedly studied is the left arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of nerve fibers connecting regions important for speech and language. Longitudinal studies have even found different patterns of white-matter development in some children whose stuttering persists compared with children who eventually recover (Chow & Chang, 2017). This, however, doesn't mean scientists have discovered one defective “stuttering circuit.” They haven't; stuttering is complex, and researchers are still working out exactly how these systems interact to produce moments of stuttering (NIDCD, 2023). However, this tells us that the origins of developmental stuttering are in neurodevelopment—not bad parenting. 

Myth #2: “Maybe stuttering runs in our family because children copy it.”

Stuttering can absolutely run in families; however, children don't simply acquire a stutter by hearing another person stutter. Twin, family and genetic studies provide substantial evidence that susceptibility to developmental stuttering is heritable (Frigerio-Domingues & Drayna, 2017).  Researchers have identified specific genes associated with some forms of persistent stuttering, while newer genetic studies suggest that many different genetic variants may contribute to risk (Frigerio-Domingues & Drayna, 2017; NIDCD, 2023). This helps explain something parents sometimes notice: a child begins stuttering, and suddenly relatives start remembering an uncle who stuttered as a child, a grandfather who occasionally blocked on words, or another family member who received speech therapy. Family history, however, doesn't mean that a child was destined to stutter. Genes are not the entire story, but it does mean that when stuttering appears across generations, what was passed down is biology—not behavior.

Myth #3: “My child stutters because they're anxious.”

This myth survives partly because parents do observe something real. A child may stutter differently when they're excited, tired, rushed, speaking in front of a class, talking to a stranger, or trying desperately to get a story out. However, there is an important distinction—something that changes stuttering intensity is not necessarily what causes stuttering. Try to equate the relationship between anxiety and stuttering to a volume knob on a radio and its power switch. A stressful situation can turn the volume up–or intensity of stutter—without being responsible for turning it on or creating it in the first place. Anxiety can certainly interact with speech, and this is seen even in people who do not have a stutter. However, in children who stutter, anxiety when speaking is often the byproduct of their stutter rather than the cause. Children who stutter may themselves become anxious about speaking, especially after experiencing teasing, embarrassment, interruption, or repeated difficulty speaking. Research has found elevated anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents who stutter (Briley et al., 2021). However, this is very different from saying that this child stutters because they are an anxious child (ASHA, n.d.). 

Myth #4: “Their brain is just moving faster than their mouth.”

This one can be an appealing explanation because it sounds intuitive: an excited child has so many ideas that their mouth just cannot keep up. However, this is a misconception. Producing fluent speech depends on precisely timed communication across a network of brain regions. Researchers have investigated differences involving speech-motor pathways as well as systems involved in initiating and timing movements, including cortical motor regions and subcortical structures such as the basal ganglia (Chang et al., 2019). When a child repeats a sound—“B-b-b-ball”---or experiences a block where the word temporarily will not come out, the problem is not that they failed to organize their thoughts quickly enough. The disruption is occurring in the extraordinarily complicated process that transforms an intended word into coordinated speech.Thus, telling a child to think before you speak does not correct that process.

Myth #5: “If I remind them to slow down, breathe, or start over, I’m helping.”

This one comes from a good place; when someone you love appears to struggle, the instinct is to help them out of it.

Slow down.

Take a breath.

Start again.

Think about what you want to say.

But, just for a moment, imagine what those instructions can sound like to a child who hears them repeatedly.

The way I talk is wrong.

Everyone is waiting for me to fix it.

I shouldn't speak until I can do it fluently.

A parent does not need to pretend that stuttering doesn't exist. Instead, one of the most powerful things an adult can communicate is remarkably simple: I'm listening to what you're saying, not how quickly you can say it. This can be communicated in a multitude of ways. For example, maintaining natural eye contact through a block rather than looking away, resisting the urge to finish a sentence, or even sometimes openly acknowledging stuttering without making it frightening or shameful. Even a smile goes a long way. 

So….did you cause your child's stutter?

No.

You did not deliberately construct the developing neural networks their brain uses to produce speech. You did not make them stutter because you spoke too quickly at dinner, asked too many questions, worked too much, experienced stress yourself, or missed some perfect way of teaching them to talk (ASHA, n.d.; Miles & Ratner, 2001). However, parents have so much power to support their child. There is an enormous difference between causing a child's stutter and shaping what a child learns to believe about their stutter. A child can gradually learn: People get uncomfortable when I talk. I need to hurry. What I have to say isn’t important. Fluent speech is good speech. Or they can learn: Sometimes I stutter. People will wait for me. What I have to say is worth hearing. I don't have to hide the way I speak. There is nothing wrong with my personality, confidence, or intellect—my speech is a manifestation of a beautifully complex process in the brain.

Neuroscience can relieve parents of a burden they were never supposed to carry, and what they do with that understanding can help relieve their children of one as well.

References

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Stuttering, cluttering, and fluency. ASHA Practice Portal. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/fluency-disorders/

Briley, P. M., O'Brien, K., & Ellis, C. (2021). Behavioral, emotional, and social well-being in children who stutter: Evidence from the National Health Interview Survey. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 33, 39–53.

Chang, S.-E., Garnett, E. O., Etchell, A., & Chow, H. M. (2019). Functional and neuroanatomical bases of developmental stuttering: Current insights. The Neuroscientist, 25(6), 566–582. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858418803594

Chow, H. M., & Chang, S.-E. (2017). White matter developmental trajectories associated with persistence and recovery of childhood stuttering. Human Brain Mapping, 38(7), 3345–3359. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23590

Frigerio-Domingues, C., & Drayna, D. (2017). Genetic contributions to stuttering: The current evidence. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine, 5(2), 95–102. https://doi.org/10.1002/mgg3.276

Miles, S., & Ratner, N. B. (2001). Parental language input to children at stuttering onset. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44(5), 1116–1130. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2001/088)

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (2017). Stuttering. National Institutes of Health. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/stuttering

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (2023). Stuttering: Our current knowledge, research opportunities, and ways to address critical gaps. National Institutes of Health. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/workshops/2023/stuttering-current-knowledge/summary