When do speech difficulties become a concern?

Your child's physician will make this determination with you and your child. The following are some of the warning signs that your child might have true stuttering or other speech problems and not just normal developmental difficulties:

• your child stutters after the age of 5
• your child is fearful of talking or does not talk
• there is a family history of stuttering
• your child is not saying words by 18 months
• other people cannot understand any words that your child is saying and your child is over 2 years old
• if your child is older than 3 years old and about half of what the child says is not understood by others
• repetition of words or phrases continues after six months