A Stuttering Glossary, in Plain English

Stuttering (stammering)

A speech difference in which the normal flow of speech is interrupted by repetitions, prolongations or blocks. “Stammering” is the British term for the same thing.

How I see it: not a disorder of the mouth. It is what happens when fear pulls an automatic action off autopilot and hands it to your conscious mind.

Block

A moment when sound and airflow stop completely — the mouth may be in position but nothing comes out. Usually the most distressing type of disfluency.

How I see it: the block is not the failure of speech. The block is the over-control — you gripping an action that was designed to run without you.

Repetition

Repeating a sound, syllable or word — “b-b-b-but”, “I-I-I think”. Common in young children's normal speech development as well as in stuttering.

Prolongation

Stretching a sound out — “ssssssee”. Another of the three classic disfluency types alongside repetitions and blocks.

Disfluency

Any interruption to the smooth flow of speech. Everyone is disfluent sometimes — “um”, false starts, repeated words. Stuttering is a specific, involuntary pattern of disfluency.

Over-control

Consciously managing an action that is meant to run automatically — monitoring each sound, pushing a word out, bracing the throat, planning the next sentence while speaking.

How I see it: this is the centre of my whole approach. Over-control is the mechanism of the block. It is why advice that adds more conscious control often gives a few good days and then stops working.

Autopilot speech

My term for speech running the way it was built to run — your subconscious handling the mechanics while your attention stays on your idea, exactly as it does when you walk.

How I see it: you already have autopilot speech. You use it when you are alone, when you sing, when you are lost in a story. Recovery is bringing it into the rooms where it matters.

The plank analogy

My core image for stuttering. A wide plank flat on the ground is easy to walk across. Lift that same plank ten stories into the air and your walk turns shaky and stiff — even though the plank has not changed. Only the fear of falling did.

How I see it: the equipment was never the problem. The work is bringing the plank back down to the ground, not learning a better way to balance.

Anticipatory fear (anticipation)

Expecting to stutter before you speak — seeing the phone light up, counting the people ahead of you who will have to introduce themselves.

How I see it: most of the suffering in stuttering happens before you open your mouth. The dread does more damage than the block.

Avoidance

Sidestepping speaking situations — letting the phone ring out, skipping the question, arranging your life so you have to talk less.

How I see it: avoidance is the most expensive habit in stuttering. Every dodge quietly tells your brain the danger was real, so the fear deepens and your life shrinks.

Word substitution (circumlocution)

Swapping a word you expect to block on for an easier one, or talking around it entirely.

How I see it: a form of over-control, and a costly one — your real message comes out blurry, and the swap confirms to your brain that the original word was dangerous.

Secondary behaviours

Physical habits that grow around stuttering — head jerks, eye blinks, foot taps, throat tension — usually developed as escape tricks to push through a block.

How I see it: these are not the disorder. They are what fighting looks like from the outside.

Covert stuttering

Stuttering that is largely hidden from others through heavy avoidance and word-swapping. A covert stutterer may sound fluent while carrying an enormous internal load.

How I see it: often the hardest version, because nobody believes you have a problem while you spend all day managing one.

Self-monitoring

Listening to your own speech as you produce it — scanning ahead for hard words, checking how each sound came out.

How I see it: self-monitoring keeps speech under conscious control, where it jams. Aiming your attention at your message instead of your mouth is one of the fastest levers you have.

Fluent moments (islands of fluency)

The situations in which a person who stutters speaks freely — alone, singing, talking to a pet or a small child, speaking in unison, sometimes in a different accent or language.

How I see it: the single most important clue about stuttering, and almost nobody connects the dots. What those moments share is no judgment and no self-monitoring.

Fluency shaping

A family of speech-therapy techniques that teach a new, controlled way of speaking — slowed rate, gentle onsets, continuous airflow, light articulatory contacts — to produce fluent speech.

How I see it: it can work, and some people do well with it. My reservation is that it asks for more conscious control of an automatic action, which is the thing I believe causes blocks in the first place. Full comparison here.

Stuttering modification

A therapy approach (associated with Charles Van Riper) that aims to stutter more easily and openly rather than to eliminate stuttering — reducing avoidance, desensitising to the fear, and easing out of blocks.

How I see it: this is the clinical approach closest to mine. Its emphasis on dropping avoidance and defusing fear is exactly right. Where I go further is in aiming at full recovery rather than easier stuttering.

Desensitisation (proof-gathering)

Reducing a fear by repeated, tolerable exposure to the feared thing until the nervous system stops treating it as dangerous.

How I see it: I call it gathering proof. You deliberately enter small speaking situations and let yourself discover that the dreaded thing does not happen. Each survived moment is evidence filed away, and enough evidence changes what your brain believes.

Spontaneous recovery

A child who stutters ceasing to stutter without formal treatment. Roughly 75–80% of children who begin stuttering stop on their own, often within a year or two.

How I see it: good news for parents, and a reason to protect one thing above all — that speaking stays safe. Fear is the hinge on which a passing disfluency becomes a lasting one.

Recovery (vs. cure)

“Cure” implies a medical intervention that eliminates a condition. There is no pill, surgery or device that cures stuttering. “Recovery” describes a person who stuttered and no longer does.

How I see it: I am picky about this for a practical reason. If you go looking for a cure, you go looking for something done to you — and when each attempt fails you conclude you are the rare hopeless case. I spent years in that trap.

Speech-language pathologist (SLP)

A licensed clinician qualified to assess and treat speech, language and swallowing disorders. Also called a speech therapist.

How I see it: for younger children, see one — early support genuinely works and little ones cannot yet reflect on fear the way my approach asks. For a sudden, severe or distressing stutter at any age, see one too. I am not a clinician and I do not pretend to be.

Glossophobia

Fear of public speaking. Common in the general population and distinct from stuttering, though the two often travel together.

How I see it: a useful reminder that fear degrades fluent speech in people who have never stuttered a day in their lives. That is the mechanism, running in everybody.

Missing a term you were looking for? Email me and I will add it.