“Stuttering results when demands for fluency from the child’s social environment exceed the child’s cognitive, linguistic, motor, or emotional capacities for fluent speech.”                                                       –C. Woodruff Starkweather

The following are recommendations to reduce demands within cognitive, linguistic, motor, and emotional capacities in a child’s environment to improve fluency skills at home. Children’s fluency and needs can vary, but small environmental changes can make a difference in helping a child increase fluent speech (adapted from Starkweather et al., 1990).

Cognitive:
-The ability to formulate and process thoughts to form a message.
Reduce demands by:
-Avoiding negative comments about your child’s speech (e.g., “slow down, keep talking”).
-Instead, focus on the message that your child is trying to share, not how it was shared. For example, if your child says “w-w-w-w-we played with a pppuppy” you can say “Wow! You played with a puppy today?”
Linguistic:
-The use of language in terms of grammar (syntax), speech sounds (phonology), word meaning (semantics), and social (pragmatic) aspects. A child with a vast vocabulary may need more time to select the words to use when sharing a thought.
Reduce demands by:
-Making leading comments that can serve as questions, but decrease the pressure for your child to respond (e.g., “Hmm I wonder…., Maybe…, How about…” vs. “What do you want to do today?”).
Motor:
-The control of speech muscles and movement. Time pressure is the most important motor demand.
Reduce demands by:
-Modeling a slower speaking rate, even during busy activities, and inserting pauses between conversational turns in order to reduce time pressure.
-If you are communicating during a busy moment, let your child know that it isn’t a good time, and you want to hear his or her story at a time that is less busy (e.g., once you get home from the store, when sitting down at the table, before you start driving somewhere.) Use eye contact, limit distractions, and let siblings know when it is their turn to share to avoid competition and reduce time pressure.
Emotional:
-The feelings and attitudes that accompany stuttering and conversation in general. Feelings of excitement and anxiety can often increase the prevalence of stuttering. Negative feelings about speaking or low self-esteem may also be coupled with the experience of stuttering.
Reduce demands by:
-Sharing how to handle things that are difficult. Acknowledge the moment (e.g.,   “that was a tough word!”) and encourage your child (e.g., Tough words come up sometimes; you did a great job sharing that story!”).

Additional resources include:
-The Stuttering Foundation. See their website at https://www.stutteringhelp.org/
-The National Stuttering Association. See their website at https://westutter.org/
-If your Child Stutters: a Guide for Parents book by The Stuttering Foundation
Starkweather, C. W., & Gottwald, S. R. (1990). The Demands and Capacities Model ii: Clinical Applications. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 15(3), 143–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/0094-730x(90)90015-k