What Causes People to Stutter?

Stuttering can be an embarrassing and difficult impediment to overcome. Although many famous people have struggled with stuttering, there is little known about what causes it. There are theories, but the overall cause of stuttering is still largely unknown. People from the King of England to Jimmy Stewart have struggled with stuttering, yet they made their way in the world and overcame it. Scientists have a few ideas about what causes stuttering and are shaping ideas about how to help people stop.

Genetics

• Genetics are thought to play a part in why people stutter. It has been shown that stuttering runs in families, so if there are relatives that stutter, it may explain why a child has developed stuttering. Although this link has been noticed, no particular gene has been isolated as causing stuttering. More research needs to be done into exactly how genetics causes stuttering.

Developmental Causes

• Developmental stuttering is thought to be the most common type of stuttering and is usually outgrown by children in four years, according to the Mayo Clinic. It occurs when the child is essentially unable to keep up with what he wants to say. The child's brain is just not capable of keeping up with the child's thoughts, and so he stutters in his frustration as he tries to express himself. The brain eventually develops the language abilities to allow the child the speech capacity to express himself and stuttering goes away.

Neurogenic Causes

• Neurogenic stuttering is caused by an actual problem in the brain caused by injury, stroke or some other brain abnormality. For some reason, the signals the brain sends for speech are not making it to the correct receiver and stuttering is the consequence. This type of stuttering is fairly common and can can affect the nerves and muscles that control speech, as well as the brain processes that control speech.

Psychogenic Causes

• Psychogenic stuttering is when someone stutters due to emotional or psychological reasons. It was once thought that most stuttering was caused by this, but it is now known that this is not the case. In fact, psychogenic stuttering accounts for very few stuttering cases. Sometimes people stutter when they are nervous or scared, but the majority of stuttering cases are not thought to be caused by mental illness anymore.