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| |    How Stuttering Starts by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. reviewed by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. Around the ages of two to five years, most children go through a phase of uneven, start-and-stop speaking as they learn to talk. Usually, they are unaware that there is anything wrong with their speech pattern. Over time, they simply find speaking easier and easier. It may be that stuttering begins when a child who has a genetic vulnerability gets stuck at this early stage of language development. If she becomes self-conscious about her lack of fluency, she might try to overcorrect her speaking, leading to even less fluency and more tension in the muscles of the throat and mouth. Instead of becoming easier, speaking becomes harder and harder. Speaking is a complex action, requiring close coordination among many muscle groups. Like other complex actions--say, dancing or pitching a fastball--speaking only really works when the muscles involved are under unconscious control. The conscious brain is simply not designed to control lots of fine movements all at once. Consequently, when children try to think too much about how to talk, they find that it simply doesn't work.
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