Cluttering or stuttering? How to tell the difference

What is cluttering?

Cluttering is a disruption in the pace and rhythm of speech. The speech is fast or uneven, and it becomes hard for other people to follow.

Cluttering can show up in several ways:

• The pace is high, or it keeps changing, so that the speech comes in bursts.
• Syllables drop out or get squeezed together, so that long words become short and unclear.
• There are lots of filler words, restarts and half-finished sentences.
• The pauses fall in other places than the listener expects.

The person speaking often doesn't notice it themselves. Many only discover it because other people keep asking "what did you say?". It isn't carelessness, and it isn't a matter of pulling yourself together. It's a way that speech works.

What is stuttering?

When you stutter, you know exactly what you want to say, but your speech stalls on the way out. It shows up as repetitions of sounds and syllables, sounds that get stretched out, and blocks where the word is completely stuck.

And you're very aware of it. Most people who stutter can feel a hard word long before it comes. Many swap words, let the phone ring or keep quiet to get out of it. You can read more about that side in our guide to stuttering in adults.

Cluttering or stuttering: the main differences

• Awareness: With cluttering, it's often other people who notice. With stuttering, you're the one who feels it first and most strongly.
• What you hear: With cluttering, the words run together and the pace is uneven. With stuttering, speech stalls in repetitions, prolongations and blocks.
• When you concentrate: Cluttered speech often becomes clearer when you slow down and think about how you're speaking. Stuttering rarely gets better because you try harder, and pressure can make it worse.
• Fear and avoidance: Stuttering often comes with a fear of particular words and situations. That is less common with cluttering alone.

Stuttering has nothing to do with intelligence, and it isn't caused by nerves.

Questions you can ask yourself

• Do you know in advance which words are going to be hard to say?
• Do you avoid phoning, introducing yourself or speaking up because you're afraid of getting stuck?
• Is it mostly other people who point out that you're hard to understand?
• Does your speech become clearer when you deliberately speak slowly?

If you answer yes to the first two, it looks like stuttering. If you answer yes to the last two, it points more towards cluttering. The answers are a guide, not a diagnosis. It takes a speech and language therapist to assess what it is.

Can you have both cluttering and stuttering?

Yes. The two can occur together, and that's one of the reasons it can be hard to tell them apart yourself. You can speak fast and unclearly for long stretches and block on particular words as well.

If you have both, it makes sense to get an assessment, so you know which one takes up the most room. That decides where it's best to begin.

Cluttering treatment: see a speech and language therapist

If it's cluttering alone, a speech and language therapist is the person to talk to. They're trained to assess speech and to work on it with you. The work is typically about becoming aware of your own speech and about pace, pauses and clear articulation.

Ask your GP or local speech and language therapy service what they offer adults, or find a therapist in private practice. We've written more about seeing a speech and language therapist as an adult. If your speech has changed suddenly, talk to your doctor first.

Things you can try yourself

• Record yourself talking about your day, and listen to it afterwards. Many people are surprised by the pace.
• Ask someone you trust to give you a small signal when you become hard to follow.
• Take a short pause every time a sentence ends.

It doesn't replace a speech and language therapist, but it teaches you more about your own speech before you get in touch.

When is The McGuire Programme relevant?

The McGuire Programme is an intensive course for anyone aged 14 or over who stutters. It is not a course in cluttering. If pace and clarity are the only things giving you trouble, a speech and language therapist is the right place to begin.

If you stutter, the course is relevant. That's also true if you both stutter and speak fast. The course lasts four days, from Thursday 08:00 to Sunday 14:00, and the days can be up to 16 hours long. You learn costal breathing, which is the foundation, and techniques such as Hit and Hold, Block release and deliberate dysfluency. You use them in real situations: on the phone, in the street and in a public speech in the city.

All the instructors stutter themselves and have taken the course. The goal is eloquence, which means saying what you want, when you want. It isn't a cure, and it's the daily practice afterwards that keeps the new habits alive. The price is DKK 18,000 as a one-off payment.

You can read about what a stuttering course is like and see the upcoming courses in Aarhus, Malmö and Oslo.

Frequently asked questions