Download a PDF of these questions.

Note: These questions are listed in order of the seriousness of the problem. If a parent answers 'yes' to any question other than number 1, it suggests the possibility of stuttering rather than normal disfluency.

Does the child repeat parts of words rather than whole words or entire phrases? (For example, 'a-a-a-apple')
Does the child repeat sounds more than once every 8 to 10 sentences?
Does the child have more than two repetitions? ('a-a-a-a-apple' instead of 'a-a-apple')
Does the child seem frustrated or embarrassed when he has trouble with a word?
Has the child been stuttering more than six months?
Does the child raise the pitch of his voice, blink his eyes, look to the side, or show physical tension in his face when he stutters?
Does the child use extra words or sounds like 'uh' or 'um' or 'well' to get a word started?
Does the child sometimes get stuck so badly that no sound at all comes out for several seconds when he's trying to talk?
Does the child sometimes use extra body movements, like tapping his finger, to get sounds out?
Does the child avoid talking or use substitute words or quit talking in the middle of a sentence because he might stutter?

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.

Marilyn Monroe

From Edward S. Herrington's letter to Southcoasttoday.com

I am writing in response to "The importance of voice" (May 29), which mentioned that famous actor James Earl Jones struggled with stuttering. Another famous voice that you cited was the trademark breathy voice of Marilyn Monroe; however, you did not make mention of the fact that Marilyn Monroe also struggled with stuttering at various points in her life, sometimes very painfully.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, was well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones spoke some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.

Questions for Parents