Will a child "outgrow" stuttering?

Parents often are told by the child's physician to wait and see what happens as he/she may "outgrow" the disfluency. Most parents still have concerns and want to know more. The best source for them is to go to The Stuttering Foundation of America and find the risk chart as well as read what they can do at home to help their child.

The Stuttering Foundation states that there is "strong evidence that almost half of all children who stutter have a family member who stutters. The risk that your child is actually stuttering instead of just having normal disfluencies increases if that family member is still stuttering. There is less risk if the family member outgrew stuttering as a child."

The age that stuttering first appears and the length on stuttering give an indication of whether or not he/she will "outgrow" the stuttering. The Foundation puts it this way:
"Children who begin stuttering before age 3 1/2 are more likely to outgrow stuttering; if your child begins stuttering before age 3, there is a much better chance she will outgrow it within 6 months.

Between 75% and 80% of all children who begin stuttering will stop within 12 to 24 months without speech therapy. If your child has been stuttering longer than 6 months, he may be less likely to outgrow it on his own. If he has been stuttering longer than 12 months, there is an even smaller likelihood he will outgrow it on his own."

Find more on The Stuttering Foundation's web site www.stutteringhelp.org.