People who stutter often feel tense or uncomfortable. They might change words to avoid stuttering.
We all have times when we do not speak smoothly. We may add “uh” or “you know” to what we say. Or, we may say a sound or word more than once. These disfluencies are normal if they happen every once in a while. When it happens a lot, it may be stuttering.
People who stutter may have the following types of disfluencies:
- This happens when you have a hard time getting a word out. You may pause for a long time or not be able to make a sound. For example, “I want a …… cookie.”
- You may stretch a sound out for a long time, like cooooooooooookie.
- You may repeat parts of words, like co-co-co-cookie.
Stuttering can change from day to day. You may have times when you are fluent and times when you stutter more. Stress or excitement can lead to more stuttering.
Stuttering is more than just the blocks or repetitions in your speech. It can also make you tense your body or struggle to talk. Stuttering may get in the way of how you talk to others. You may want to hide your stuttering. So, you may avoid certain words or refuse to talk in some situations. For example, you may not want to talk on the phone if that makes you stutter more.
