Collabtopic: what is NNF prepared by A.vanaja speech therapist
Many children between the ages of two and six years may engage in periods of dysfluent speech when they are tired, excited or apprehensive about their lack of talking clearly. This is called Normal nonfluency.
Normal nonfluency is the repetition of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, the prolonging of sounds and pauses, or the use of sounds like “um” or “ah”. A three year old child will often repeat a sound like “s-s-s” or a syllable like “cra-cra-cra-cracker”, or a word “like-like like” this. Repeating, pausing, backing up, holding on to sounds, and general confusion of “thinking and talking” are very typical as children are learning to talk. Children between two and four years have many experiences they want to talk about but don’t have the fast muscular coordination it takes to express themselves smoothly. It is therefore easy to understand why their speech may be dysfluent during these years.
Disfluencies exhibited by children during developmental stages of language learning are termed as Normal Non-Fluency. Normal disfluencies occur throughout childhood. This may occur in children between the ages of 1 ½ to 7 years, with a heightened occurrence between 2 ½ and 4 years. Children with normal disfluencies between 18 months and 3 years will exhibit repetitions of sounds, syllables, and words, especially at the beginning of sentences. These occur usually about once in every ten sentences.
After 3 years of age, children with normal disfluencies are less likely to repeat sounds or syllables but will instead repeat whole words (I-I-I can’t) and phrases (I want…I want…I want to go). They will also commonly use fillers such as “uh” or “um” and sometimes switch topics in the middle of a sentence, revising and leaving sentences unfinished.
Pay attention when your child talks to you. Let him know you are listening. Give him your time and attention when he has something urgent to say. Remember that he wants to share his feelings, experiences and ideas with you. Let him know you are interested. Don’t rush him!
If you are in the middle of a task, like doing dishes, stop for a minute. Bend down so that you and your child are on an eye-to-eye level, and listen.
Discuss a useful next step for your child
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