Developmental Dysfluency

Introduction

Developmental dysfluency, also called "normal dysfluency", is a normal stage of language development, occurring during the toddler and preschool years. Developmental dysfluency consists of any number of inconsistencies in speech such as stuttering, repetition, mistiming or poor inflection.

Speech is a complicated achievement that involves a series of cognitive and linguistic processes that are both sensorimotor and auditory. As children grow, their language and vocabulary grows exponentially. As this happens, it is possible that a child might begin to demonstrate forms of dysfluencies in their speech as they begin to speak. The most common form of dysfluency in children younger than three years of age is the repetition of one syllable words or parts of words, especially at the beginning of their sentences as they try to form the sentence correctly.

As children grow and go through the developmental stages of their lives, language learning may be more dysfluent in some than others. These occurrences, however, are normal. When attempting to master spoken language, children gradually develop fluent speech. Children go through the same learning patterns when they learn their first language as adults do when they learn to speak languages other than their native one.

Statistics

Preschool children usually go through a period of dysfluency as they attempt to learn linguistic and speech skills. About 10% of these children will experience a speech or language delay that is serious enough for them to benefit from early referral and assessment by a speech language pathologist (SLP). Normal dysfluency begins during a child's intensive language years and dissipates as the child continues to grow and develop. These dysfluencies are considered a normal phase of language development.

Additionally, 85% of children, before preschool age will experience developmental dysfluency. These children won’t require intervention because their dysfluency is a normal part of their development. 1 in 12 children, ages 3-17, will experience issues with their speech that is not considered within the normal realm of developmental dysfluency. However, only half of those individuals will receive intervention and speech therapy.

Children who do not require speech therapy will often outgrow the period of dysfluency. Experts find that there is a distinction between childhood dysfluency that will likely correct itself and other disorders such as stuttering.

When is Intervention Required?

There are several warning signs of speech delays that are not considered developmentally normal.

• Babies that don’t “coo” or babble

• Babies that don’t respond to noise or speech around them
• Their first words have not been spoken by 15 months
• They have a 50-word vocabulary, or less, by two years old
• Others struggle to understand what your child is saying at 3 years or older
• Other adults should be able to understand at least 75% of what child says
• Struggles to follow simple instructions at 2 years old and beyond
• Has speech sound error after five years old
• "t” “d” and “n” should be pronounced correctly by age 3

Experts recommend an initial evaluation by a pediatrician, who might also recommend an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist.