I work with a child who stammers in my early years' setting, how can I best support them?

The guidance below aims to support you if you work with a child who stammers or you suspect may be stammering. 

Although this guidance has been developed from research and input from Speech & Language Professionals, a child’s own Speech & Language Therapist will be best-placed to provide guidance that is tailored to their specific needs.

Make a note of your observations

As an early years professional, monitoring and observing children interacting in their environment is important in helping to build a picture of the way a child’s stammer presents, and how it may be affecting them. This picture can change across days, months and situations. Keeping a record to share with the child’s parents/caregivers, Speech & Language Therapist and your team means that the best support can be provided for each individual child.

It can be helpful to consider and make a note of the following:

• Are there times of day, or certain situations, in which the child stammers more or less?
• Does the child seem to be affected by their stammer in any way? For example, do they seem upset or frustrated by it? Do they try to hide it?
• Does their stammering seem to be increasing?

Access Support

Discuss your observations regularly with the child’s parents or caregivers. Putting  professional support in place early on for a child who stammers leads to better outcomes. Waiting first to see if the child stops stammering is not advised.

If you think a child in your early years setting may be stammering, or you are not sure, it’s important to seek guidance from a Speech and Language Therapist. You can ask the person responsible for Special Educational Needs within your workplace setting to contact the local Speech and Language Therapy service for your area. Alternatively, get in touch with our Support Hub Advisor for more information. 

You may also want to take a look at our Top Tips for creating an inclusive and supportive communication environment for pre-schoolers who stammer.