Developmental dysfluency

Developmental dysfluency, also called "normal disfluency", is a normal stage of language development, occurring during the toddler and preschool years.

Speech is a complicated achievement that involves a series of cognitive, linguistic processes that are sensorimotor and auditory. They generate an in-depth understanding of language and speech. As children grow up, their language and vocabulary grow with them. However, as this happens, it is possible that the child might begin to demonstrate forms of dysfluencies in their speech as they struggle to speak.

Preschool children usually go through a period of dysfluency as they attempt to learn linguistic and speech skills. About 10% of these children will experience a speech or language delay that is serious enough to benefit from early referral and assessment by a speech language pathologist (SLP). Normal disfluency begins during a child's intensive language=learning years and dissipates as the child undergoes growth and development. This is considered a normal phase of language development.

Most children will outgrow the period of dysfluency, but those who do not require speech therapy. Experts find that there is a distinction between childhood disfluency that will likely correct itself and other disorders such as stuttering. The most common form of dysfluency in children younger than three years of age is the repetition of one syllable words or parts of words, especially at the beginning of their sentences as they try to form the sentence correctly.

As children grow and go through the developmental stages of their lives, language learning may be more dysfluent in some than others. These occurrences, however, are normal. When attempting to master spoken language, children will become more and more fluent as they more proficient. Children go through the same learning patterns when they learn their first language as adults do when they learn to speak languages other than their native one.[1]