Written by the Inclusive Developmental and Therapy Center therapy team · medically reviewed by Dr Muhammad Suffyan, MB BS (GMC 8023727) · Last reviewed July 2026
Stammering — many people say stuttering — is when the flow of speech keeps breaking down. Your child repeats part of a word (“b-b-ball”), stretches a sound out (“ssssun”), or blocks, with the mouth set for the word and no sound coming. It usually appears between the ages of two and five, when a child’s ideas are racing ahead of the mouth that has to deliver them. We assess and support children who stammer at our centre in Model Town, Multan.
A bumpy patch is a normal part of learning to talk, and plenty of young children pass through one with no help at all. What matters is less whether your child stammers today and more which way it is heading. A stammer that has lasted more than about six months, is getting stronger rather than easing, comes with visible effort, or has started to upset your child is the one to have looked at.
Nobody causes a stammer. It is not the result of nerves, a fright, a scolding, a fall, or anything you did or failed to do. Stammering tends to run in families and is linked to how the brain coordinates the fast, precise movements that speech demands. Your child is not being lazy, is not seeking attention, and cannot simply stop.
What we watch most closely is not the bumps themselves but what a child starts doing about them. Swapping to an easier word, trailing off with “nothing, forget it”, going quiet in class, letting an older sibling answer — those are the signs a child has begun to fear talking. That fear is much harder to unpick later than the disfluency that caused it, which is why waiting has a cost.
Parents here usually describe it as hakla pan or zaban ki laknat (ہکلاہٹ · زبان کی لکنت). Stammering behaves the same way in every language, and growing up with two or three does not cause it. We run sessions in whichever language your child hears most at home — Urdu, Saraiki, Punjabi or English — and coach you in that language too, because most of the change happens in your kitchen rather than in our room.
Which signs of stammering are worth an assessment?
- Repeating parts of words — “b-b-ball”, “mu-mu-mummy” — rather than whole words or phrases
- Stretching a sound out, so “sun” becomes “ssssun”
- Blocks: the mouth is ready for the word but no sound comes out for a moment
- Visible effort — a tight face, blinking, a jerk of the head, or a hard push to start
- A run-up of “um, um, um”, or extra breath taken before a difficult word
- Swapping to an easier word, or abandoning a sentence halfway through
- Talking freely at home but saying very little at school or with visitors
- Frustration or embarrassment — asking why they cannot talk properly
- It has carried on for more than about six months, or is clearly getting stronger
- A family history of stammering, or another speech or language difficulty alongside it
What does stammering therapy actually involve?
- An assessment that maps the real pattern — which kinds of disfluency, how often, how much physical effort, and how your child feels about talking, which matters as much as the count
- Hearing and wider speech and language checked at the same time, so we are not working on fluency while something else is driving the difficulty
- Parent coaching first for preschool children: slowing your own pace, leaving a beat of silence before you answer, asking fewer questions, and taking the performance pressure out of talking
- For young children the strongest evidence sits with structured, parent-delivered practice run under a therapist’s weekly guidance — the Lidcombe Program is the best known approach of that kind
- For older children, gentle ways to ease into a word and ride out a block, plus work on the avoidance and fear that have built up around speaking
- Talking about stammering openly with your child rather than around it, so it stops being the thing nobody in the house mentions
- Practical help for school — what a teacher should do when your child gets stuck, and how to handle reading aloud, register and presentations
- Sessions of around forty-five minutes, once or twice a week, in short blocks with an honest review at the end of each: what has changed, what comes next, and when therapy should stop
- A referral on where the picture is not fluency alone — to audiology for the ears, or to a paediatrician where the wider development needs a doctor
Stammering is never caused by bad parenting, and your child is not doing it on purpose. Telling a child to “slow down”, “take a breath” or “start again” adds pressure exactly where it hurts — calm, unhurried listening does more. If the stammer has lasted more than about six months, is getting stronger, or has begun to bother your child, ask for an assessment rather than waiting to see. Early help never makes stammering worse.
Consider a four-year-old who has begun repeating the first sound of words — b-b-ball — and who now tenses his face and blinks when he gets stuck. His parents are certain they caused it, usually tracing it to a fright or to being scolded; they did not. Therapy starts by changing the room around him: a slower family pace, a beat of silence before anyone answers, fewer questions at once, and a few minutes of calm daily practice that his mother runs and the therapist adjusts each week. What tends to shift first is the effort — the pushing and the blinking ease before the repetitions do. What takes longest is the confidence to speak up in a group. Early stammering often settles well with the right support, and nothing is lost by starting.
An illustrative, general example — not a real child. Every child is unique; the only way to know what yours needs is a proper assessment.What the research tells us
Everything we do is grounded in published research, not just opinion. Here are a few findings from trusted, independent sources:
A randomised controlled trial found that preschool children who received the parent-delivered, therapist-guided Lidcombe Program had substantially less stuttering than untreated children — strong support for helping early rather than waiting.
— Jones et al., BMJ (2005). View source
Other areas we help with
Stammering: questions parents ask
Will my child grow out of stammering?
Many young children do. A bumpy patch that begins around two or three and fades within a few months is common, and it needs no treatment. It is genuinely hard to predict which children those will be, so the safer question is not whether it will pass but which way it is heading right now. If it has lasted beyond about six months, is getting stronger, comes with visible effort, or has started to upset your child, have it assessed rather than waiting it out. Our children’s speech therapy in Multan begins with a free first consultation.
At what age is stammering normal, and when is it not?
Stammering most often appears between the ages of two and five, when a child’s ideas outrun their speech, and brief repetitions at that age sit within normal development. It stops being ordinary when it lasts beyond about six months, when it first appears after around three and a half, when effort and tension show up, or when your child starts avoiding words. A stammer that begins suddenly in an older child, after years of fluent speech, deserves a prompt professional opinion.
What should I do — and not do — when my child gets stuck on a word?
Wait. Keep your face soft and your eyes on your child, let them finish in their own time, and answer what they said rather than how they said it. Do not finish the word for them, do not say “slow down”, “take a breath” or “start again”, and do not ask them to say it again properly. Slow your own speech instead, and leave a second of silence before you reply — children take their pace from the adults around them. There is more in our guide to stammering in children: causes and how to help.
Is stammering caused by fear, shock or being scolded?
No. It is the first thing many parents here ask, so it is worth being blunt: a fright, a scolding, a fall or a change of school does not cause stammering, and neither does anything you did or failed to do. Stammering runs in families and is linked to how the brain coordinates the rapid, precise movements speech requires. Stress does not create a stammer, although a tired, rushed or pressured child may stammer more on a given day — which is why a calmer, slower household genuinely helps.
Should we speak Urdu or English at home if my child stammers?
Speak the language you are most fluent and most natural in — for most families here that is Urdu, Saraiki or Punjabi. Growing up with two or three languages does not cause stammering, and switching the whole household to broken English strips away exactly the rich, easy input your child needs. A stammer shows up in every language a child speaks, so therapy works in whichever one they hear most. More on raising a child in a bilingual home.
My child has started avoiding words and going quiet. Is that serious?
It is the change worth acting on quickly. When a child swaps to an easier word, answers in one word, lets a sibling speak for them, or stops putting a hand up in class, the stammer has moved from being a speech difficulty to being a confidence one — and avoidance is harder to undo later than the disfluency itself. Therapy at that point works on both at once. A child who speaks freely at home but is completely silent in certain places, rather than stammering there, may be facing something different: see selective mutism.
How is stammering different from unclear speech or apraxia?
Stammering is a problem of flow: the sounds are right, but the delivery keeps breaking down. Unclear speech is a problem of accuracy — the child says “tup” for “cup” consistently, which is an articulation difficulty. In childhood apraxia of speech the same word comes out differently each attempt and the child seems to grope for the mouth position. A child who is short on words and sentences rather than on fluency may instead have developmental language disorder. These can overlap, and an assessment is what separates them.
How do we start — do we need a referral, and do you offer online sessions?
No referral and no diagnosis are needed; you can come straight to us, and the first consultation is free. We are on MPS Road, Model Town, Multan, open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm. Bring any earlier reports, and if you can, a short phone video of your child talking at home — a stammer often hides in a clinic room. Sessions run around forty-five minutes, once or twice a week, in short blocks with a review at the end of each, and video follow-ups work well for parent coaching between visits. Book an assessment, or message us on WhatsApp at +92 314 6040262.
Worried about your child? Let’s talk.
A short, friendly conversation is the best first step. Call, text or WhatsApp us — we’ll listen and guide you, with no pressure.
MPS Road, Block A Model Town, Multan (near Bloomfield Hall School, Street No. 2) · Mon–Sat, 10 AM – 7 PM