Stuttering is a form of dysfluency (dis-FLOO-en-see), an interruption in the flow of speech. In many cases, stuttering goes away on its own by age 5. In some kids, it goes on for longer. Effective treatments are available to help a child overcome it.

Can stuttering be cured?

There is no known cure for stuttering, though many treatment approaches have proven successful for helping speakers reduce the number of disfluencies in their speech.

Is a stutter permanent?

Young children may stutter when their speech and language abilities aren't developed enough to keep up with what they want to say. Most children outgrow this developmental stuttering. Sometimes, however, stuttering is a chronic condition that persists into adulthood.