Breaking news: researchers are investigating a promising new early intervention for toddlers who stutter

Stuttering is common: Between 1-2% of the population stutters (80-160 million people). It’s never too late to get help. But, if possible, early intervention is often the best option.

Lots of toddlers stutter: For many people who stutter, stuttering starts early – sometimes as early as 18 months. The average age of onset is 25-30 months, with perhaps the majority of people who stutter starting to stutter before they are 3 years of age.

Challenge: High quality, evidence-based treatments exist for preschoolers who stutter, including the Lidcombe Program, RESTART-DCM, and the Westmead Program. But, to differing degrees, these treatments require the child to participate actively in their treatment. Not every toddler (or preschooler) is able or willing to do so!

Two things might help: Experiments have identified two things that might help when parents talk to a toddler who stutters:

Parents reduce their speech rate, e.g. by about 1/3.
After the toddler says something, parents pause briefly before responding, e.g. for half a second.

Why might these strategies help? We don’t know. There are two main theories, yet to be tested, namely that they might:

trigger neuroplastic changes; and/or
cause the toddler to change their own speech rate and use of pauses, which might help them to control stuttering.

That’s a lot of mights! Indeed! Researchers at the Australian Stuttering Research Centre are developing and testing a new treatment protocol built on these two strategies, composed of three steps:

Speech pathologist (or virtual speech pathologist) trains the parents on the two strategies using role-play (the toddler does not need to be present).
Parents use the two strategies with their toddler twice a day for 5-10 minutes each time, at home.
When the parents are confident, they use the strategies with their toddler as much as practicable at home and out and about.

Is that it? There’s a bit more involved, including home recordings, diary-keeping, parent severity ratings, and regular check-ins with the speech pathologist. But not much!

Why are so many people excited by this research (including me)?

The treatment protocol lends itself to automation, e.g. through AI-generated virtual SLPs, that might make it available globally for free, or at a minimal cost!
Neither of these strategies is difficult to teach or learn.
Neither requires the toddler to do anything!
As soon as stuttering is detected, treatment can start.
It might be more “culturally transferable”, compared to existing programs.
It might be helpful for families who can’t access other services for any reason.

What’s next? Lots of testing, including peer-reviewed clinical trials, with controls for bias and rigorous outcome measures. To ensure the treatment is effective and safe, researchers need to establish:

the active ingredients;
how long the treatment should go for;
its effectiveness compared to other options (including no treatment);
its risks (e.g. whether it might contribute to covert stuttering and avoidance behaviours); and
child outcomes, including effects on stuttering severity, anxiety, quality of life, and attitude to communication.

Wish list: Given the high co-occurrence of stuttering with other communication disorders and challenges, I would also like to understand effects (if any) of the treatment on speech and oral language development, including for late talkers, toddlers with speech sound disorders, and toddlers with behavioural signs of possible autism.

Go deeper: For more information on the treatment, check out this easy-to-read (but unfortunately paywalled) clinical focus article: Onslow, M., Hearne, A., Yu, K., O’Brian, S., Menzies, R., & Lowe, R. (2026). How Simple Can a Treatment for Early Stuttering Be? A Proposed Two-Factor Early Intervention. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 1-9, or contact the Australian Stuttering Research Centre.