Stuttering In Teenagers

If you are the teenager reading this

Stuttering is common. The Australian Stuttering Research Centre puts it at 1 to 2 per cent of people, so in a large high school you are unlikely to be the only one. It is a physical condition to do with how the brain runs speech. Being nervous did not cause it, and neither did anything you or your parents did.

Therapy at your age is your decision as much as anyone's. The published guide for the main program for older teenagers says a teenager needs to be part of every decision, including whether the program suits them at all. You pick what you want to be different: speaking up at sport training, saying your name on the first day, a drive-through order, a call to book something, a part-time job interview. You might not care how you sound with close friends, and that is a fair choice.

It does ask something of you. The treatments that have been tested with teenagers teach a way of speaking that keeps stuttering under control. At first it sounds slow and odd; then it is shaped until it sounds natural. That takes regular practice through the week, a lot like training for a sport or learning an instrument. Sessions are by video, from your own room if you like, and nobody at school needs to know.

One practical point: you cannot apply yourself. A parent or guardian has to do it, so if you want this, show them this page.

If you are the parent or guardian

With a teenager, Dr Lauren works with your teenager directly: she assesses the stuttering, sets the goals with them, runs the sessions and adjusts the plan as they progress. The practice between sessions is your teenager's. Your part is to apply, to make the time and privacy for sessions, and to be involved as much as your teenager wants. The Camperdown Program's guide says parents of teenagers are usually involved, and that how much depends on the teenager's age and organisation, your relationship and your availability.

Because the practice is the teenager's, therapy at this age depends on the teenager wanting it. If yours is unsure, a reasonable first step is to ask what they would want from it, and to let them read the section above. Stuttering therapy for teenagers aims for control and confidence in the situations they choose. The research centre that developed these programs says it is not right to think of it as a cure.

For what helps at home day to day, see helping a child who stutters.

What treatment asks of a teenager, compared with a younger child

Stuttering treatment changes with age mainly in who does the work. The table sets out the difference, using the published programs for each age.

Age	Who does the practice	Who sets the goals	The parent's part
Under 6	A short daily practice with a parent, shown and checked by the speech pathologist (the Lidcombe Program)	The speech pathologist, with the parent	A short guided practice each day
6 to 12	The child, with a parent's help	The speech pathologist, with the child as a partner and the parent involved	Helps with practice at home
Teenagers	The teenager	The teenager, with the speech pathologist	Applies, supports, and is a practice partner if the teenager wants one

For a younger brother or sister, see stuttering in school-aged children. Every program is set side by side in stuttering treatment compared.

Speech restructuring and the Camperdown Program

Speech restructuring is the treatment with the most evidence for teenagers and adults who want to control their stuttering. The person learns a new way of producing speech, called a fluency technique, that stuttering does not break into, then practises it until it sounds like ordinary talking.

The Camperdown Program is the Australian version, developed by the Australian Stuttering Research Centre. Its treatment guide (version 4.0, May 2024) recommends it for adults and older adolescents and sets out seven stages. The teenager hears a recorded example of the technique, spoken by another teenager, and copies it. They learn to use more or less of the technique: the guide's levels are full, half, quarter and minimal. They work towards natural-sounding speech, practise harder tasks with a practice partner, and then take it into real conversations in an order they choose. The last stage is about managing stuttering over the long term.

The guide asks for two kinds of practice: basic skills practice of 15 to 20 minutes, daily or at least several times a week, and planned real-world conversations. It describes the technique to the person from the start as a way to control stuttering, not a cure, and sets the aim as control to the extent the person finds acceptable, in the conversations they choose.

What the webcam trials with teenagers found

The Camperdown Program has been tested with teenagers entirely by video, in two small trials. In the larger one, it worked well for about half.

• First trial (2012): three teenagers aged 13, 15 and 16 were treated by webcam with no clinic visits. A year after they moved into the program's maintenance stage, stuttering was down by 74 per cent on average. Two of the three still avoided some speaking situations.
• Second trial (2014): 16 teenagers started and 14 finished. Average stuttering fell from 6.1 per cent of syllables to 2.8 per cent a year later, and half of the group were at 1.2 per cent or lower. Treatment took an average of 25 sessions. Half showed little change in their avoidance of speaking situations.

The researchers' own conclusion was that the webcam model appealed to teenagers but was effective and efficient for only half of them. Neither trial had a comparison group, and both were small, so these are figures for two groups of teenagers and not a forecast for any one person. The randomised trials of the Camperdown Program were run with adults: one with 40 adults found no difference between telehealth and clinic delivery.

Which approach Dr Lauren uses with a teenager is settled after the stuttering assessment, with the teenager. This section describes the published program and its research, not her sessions.

Anxiety about speaking: a speech pathologist or a psychologist?

Anxiety does not cause stuttering, but stuttering can make a person anxious about speaking, and anxiety can then make the stuttering worse. That is how the Australian Stuttering Research Centre describes the link.

Many teenagers who stutter are not anxious, and some are. In the largest study of teenagers seeking stuttering treatment (102 Australians aged 11 to 17), anxiety and depression scores sat within normal limits on average, and teenagers who rated their own stuttering as more severe reported more anxiety. A smaller study of 37 teenagers, using diagnostic interviews, found that 38 per cent met the criteria for a mental health condition, mostly anxiety, about twice the usual rate for teenagers. Worry about speaking is worth asking about, not assuming.

What a speech pathologist does. A speech pathologist assesses the stuttering and how it affects speaking at school, with friends and at home, treats the stuttering, and helps a teenager work up through speaking situations from easier to harder. The Camperdown Program's guide builds that ladder of situations into its later stages.

When a psychologist is the right person. If worry about speaking is stopping a teenager from going to school, seeing friends or taking part, or if their mood is low, that is work for a psychologist, and a GP can arrange a referral. The research centre names cognitive behaviour therapy as the therapy of choice for social anxiety. A psychologist and a speech pathologist can work at the same time.

The Australian Stuttering Research Centre also offers online anxiety treatment for people who stutter. The program on its resources page at the time of writing is for adults, so for a teenager a psychologist is the route. The same page lists a support organisation for young people who stutter aged 7 to 18.

Sudden stuttering in a teenager, or a stutter that comes back

Stuttering that begins for the first time in the teenage years is uncommon. Most stuttering starts between the ages of 2 and 6. It is worth asking whether there was any stuttering in the preschool years, even briefly, because a stutter that has returned is a different picture from one that is new.

Stuttering that appears suddenly with no earlier history should go to a GP first, especially after a head injury or an illness, or alongside other changes. The United States National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders describes a separate kind, neurogenic stuttering, that can follow a head injury or other injury to the brain.

School, presentations and teasing

High school asks for more public talking than primary school: presentations, oral assessments, reading aloud, group work. Bullying about stuttering can have serious consequences and needs to be stopped, and the school should be told. What to ask a school for, and how to raise it, is covered in stuttering at school.

Why video suits many teenagers

Sessions are by video, Australia wide, so therapy fits around school and nobody sees a teenager walk into a clinic. The Australian Stuttering Research Centre notes that teenagers particularly like treatment by telehealth, and both teenage trials above were run that way. More on how it works is on the online stuttering therapy page.

Who works with your teenager

Dr Lauren Crumlish holds a PhD from the University of Queensland and is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist. She received a 2024 Dean's Award and has published research. Dr Lauren is a speech pathologist, not a medical doctor. She treats stuttering in children and teenagers up to 18, and she is the only clinician a family deals with.

Dr Lauren works with a small number of families and has limited availability. A parent or guardian applies: Apply Now.