Stammering or stuttering is a communication problem where people find it difficult to express themselves smoothly without suddenly stopping in a while in the middle of a conversation and missing out on words due to the inability to speak continuously without disrupting the flow of speech.

Studies have shown that there are millions of people not just in India but around the world who have a stammering problem, with men affected more than women.

Stammering causes people to repeat the same words more than once, they take more time to complete sentences while speaking, it makes them self conscious and they leave the conversation incomplete when they become aware that people are staring them or making fun of them while they are in the middle of a conversation.

There are many theories regarding what causes stammering but research has been unable to pinpoint the exact cause of this speech disorder. One explanation for why this problem occurs is  because there is a breakdown in the process of how our brain interprets what we think and puts these ideas into meaningful words and complete sentences.

There are some reasons that have been identified as to what makes people stammer, they are:

1) Injuries suffered to the brain during childhood, this is the time when we learn to talk, it is a critical time where we learn languages and how to communicate with others.

2) It could be an inherited problem where the speech disorder is passed on from generation to generation.

3) The presence of mental and emotional problems in the individual where he finds it difficult to communicate and interact freely with others like everyone else.

4) Finding it difficult to adapt to your environment especially when it is hostile and you feel that you have failed to achieve success in your daily life and everyone is against you.

It must be noted that there is no evidence to support the theory that people who stammer are not as bright as those that do not stammer.

The question is can stammering be normal?

Stammering occurs in early childhood when we are in the phase of learning how to speak, in most cases as we grow older and become confident, the stuttering stops by itself. There are a few people who continue to stammer after growing up and some of us start stammering when we have to give a speech in front of a crowd.

We can help people who stammer by using the following steps:

1. There are some people who speak slowly, we must help them by allowing them to express themselves and not get impatient and tell them to hurry up and finish what they have to say.
2. People who stammer have a tendency to rush through what they are saying, we must refrain from scolding them for talking too fast and give them time to complete what they have to say.
3. It is important to listen to what the person is saying and not to find mistakes with the way they speak, this is a waste of time and is an avoidable situation, as you take more time to get things done and in the process you are hurting the other person.

We need to be empathetic and careful with people who stammer and help them to overcome this problem and achieve success.