Causes of stuttering in children

There are many reasons for children to stutter. It may be caused by genetic factors, which is caused by single gene inheritance factors. It may also be caused by excessive mental stress, which leads to a decrease in children's learning ability and autism. Congenital developmental disorders can also cause children to stutter. Therefore, we need to understand the reasons why children stutter, and then we can make appropriate adjustments to address the problems.

Causes of stuttering in children

1. Genetic factors: The familial incidence rate of stuttering patients can reach 36% to 55%, so some people believe that it is related to genetic factors and may be inherited by a single gene. Some people have found that children with stuttering have a family history of stuttering. The main external cause is a poor language learning environment, such as parents who stutter, or parents who speak fast and ambiguously, which makes it difficult for children to imitate. Some people have also found that left-handedness is more common among stuttering patients and their relatives, and believe that stuttering is related to the dominant side of the brain.

2. Mental factors: Children's stuttering often occurs after acute or prolonged mental trauma, so many theories believe that mental factors may be an important cause of stuttering. Some children suffer a sudden and severe mental blow due to severe punishment or scolding from their parents, teachers or people around them. The fear or fright causes stuttering. At the same time, mental tension and anxiety can also cause stuttering.

3. Physical factors: Congenital developmental disorders can also cause stuttering. Many children have been exposed to harmful factors during the perinatal period or infancy, such as maternal pregnancy toxemia, bleeding or physical illness during the fetal period, or certain infectious diseases during the development process that weakened the nervous system and affected speech function, resulting in stuttering.

4. External factors: Forcibly correcting left-handedness can also cause stuttering.

5. Dialectal stuttering: Children may stutter if they change their dialect during the period of learning to speak, or learn two or more different dialects at the same time.

6. Stuttering caused by rapid thinking: Because the thoughts are broad and rapid, the mouth and teeth cannot keep up, resulting in stuttering. It is also common in clinical practice.

7. Other factors: Some preschool children suffer from stuttering due to imitation. The available data are based on electroencephalogram, electromyogram of articulatory muscles and the clinical efficacy of haloperidol. It is inferred that stuttering may be related to factors such as increased activity of the limbic system and reticular formation complex, incoordination of vocal muscles, and biochemical disorders in the basal ganglia, but further clinical evidence is needed.

Symptoms of stuttering in children

Stuttering can manifest in many forms, and medically it is usually divided into three categories: first-word difficulty type, word repetition type, and sentence interruption type. 96% of stuttering is manifested as difficulty in pronouncing the first word. Most children only have speech symptoms in the early stages, while some severe patients may have various accompanying movements due to physiological tension, such as lip, jaw, and neck muscle spasms, tongue muscle tremors, stomping, blinking, and head turning. At this time, factors such as parents' attitudes, social frustrations, and mental stress can cause stuttering to become more severe and accompanied by more movements.