Fluent speech is essential for easy communication, but some children can have trouble getting the hang of it. If you’ve noticed your child struggling with speech fluency, speech therapy is the perfect solution. Keep reading to learn more about fluency, what causes fluency disorders, and how our pediatric speech-language pathologists can help your child master fluent speech.
What Is Fluency?
Fluency in speech refers to the smooth, flowing, and effortless production of speech sounds and words. A fluent speaker can express themselves clearly without hesitations or verbal interruptions. Someone with fluency disorders will have more frequent and obvious interruptions in the flow of their speech that can make it much harder to understand what they are saying.
Symptoms of Fluency Disorders
The most common symptoms of fluency disorders include:
- Stuttering over sounds, syllables, or words, such as “b-b-book.”
- Lengthening sounds, like “sssssnake.”
- Experiencing moments of blankness or struggle to produce sounds or words
- Cluttering speech, where the speed of speech is rapid or irregular
What Causes Fluency Disorders?
Several different conditions can lead to fluency disorders, including:
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Auditory processing disorder
- Oral motor skill delays
- Brain injuries
- Genetic predispositions
Will My Child Grow Out of Their Fluency Disorder?
Many parents wonder if their child will simply grow out of fluency disorders like stuttering or cluttering. While that may be true for some children, it’s impossible to know for sure if your child will “grow out of it” (which really means learn to overcome it on their own) or if they will continue to experience fluency struggles until they get expert help.
The best thing you can do to support your child’s overall development and wellbeing is to check with a pediatric speech-language pathologist. Speech therapy can help them learn to speak fluently, increase their confidence, and encourage them to share their ideas with others.
How Pediatric Speech Therapy Can Improve Fluency
Speech-language pathologists are experts in all areas of speech and language, including fluency disorders. We use targeted and personalized therapy approaches to build your child’s speech skills and improve their fluency. Through play-based, proven treatments, we can help your child learn to communicate their ideas more easily for success in school, relationships, and beyond. Your child’s treatment plan may include:
- Exercises to practice smooth speech
- Breathing techniques to improve speed and clarity of speech
- Strategies to overcome fear or anxiety about speaking
- Advice on how to support your child at home
- And more
Schedule an Evaluation
If your child is struggling with speech fluency, Little Hands at Play is here to help. Call us at (479) 226-3409 to schedule an evaluation with our experienced speech-language pathologists today, and let’s work together to give your child the tools they need to communicate with confidence.
