Causes of stuttering: three theories

The causes of stuttering have been extensively studied and much debated over the years. Most research indicates that stuttering, which affects approximately 4-5 percent of people at some point in their lives, is a direct result of one of three areas.

stuttering is learned

Some research suggests that stuttering is a learned behavior. It is common for children to stutter at some point in their first years of life while speaking. Learned behavior theory suggests that if they are punished, corrected, reprimanded, or made to feel foolish for their stuttering, the anxiety caused by this will cause them to stutter more. As the stuttering continues, it becomes a part of their speech, just as fluent speech would be if the stress and anxiety during the learning phase were not present.

Stuttering is psychological

The second theory about the causes of stuttering is that it is psychological. In short, there is something different in the brain between a person who stutters and one who does not. In all other aspects of people’s lives, the psychological difference in the brain has no effect. However, the brain of the person who stutters can react to stress and anxiety with a stutter block, while the brain of the person who does not stutter allows him to speak fluently in the same situations.

Stuttering is genetic

There is also some research indicating that stuttering is genetic to some degree. Stuttering has been shown to run in families, however, there is much research in this field that still needs to be done to solidify the genetic link between stuttering and your family’s DNA.

Now you know why, but how do you treat stuttering?

The strongest link to why people stutter is the theory of learned behavior. This is really good news for those who stutter.

If a behavior can be learned, it can also be unlearned, the theory suggests.

This means that finding a stop stuttering program that “teaches” you how to stop stuttering will essentially override the learned behavior that caused you to stutter in the first place, even if it was many years ago.