As parents, we tend to worry about whether our child will be normally formed at birth. In the case of stuttering, there is nothing that can be determined at birth. The signs of a potential stuttering problem usually appear between the ages of three and five years, when the developmental nonfluencies which can lead to a full blown stuttering problem become apparent.
Many children pass through stages of developmental nonfluency.
These stages tend to come and go in episodes or cycles that may last for several weeks or even a month. There are some episodes where the child is remarkably fluent and verbal, only to be followed by periods where the child is excessively hesitant in talking. In other words, they experience breaks in their fluency on roughly 50 words per 1,000 words spoken. Signs of increased fragmentation are a concern. With respect to emotional characteristics, disfluencies in normally nonfluent children, even when they are more nonfluent than usual, cause little or no concern or awareness to the child.