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Getting the latest healthcare news for you
A new international consensus statement reframes stuttering as a brain-based neurobiological disorder, not just a behavioral quirk or phase. The guidelines, backed by 35 global experts, call for greater physician involvement in diagnosis and interdisciplinary care for the 80 million people worldwide who stutter. No FDA-approved treatments currently exist, but speech therapy remains the cornerstone of care.
For the first time, an international multidisciplinary panel has issued a formal consensus statement on stuttering — pushing back on the notion that it's "just a phase." The Stuttering Treatment and Research Society (STARS) convened 35 experts from psychiatry, neurology, and speech-language pathology to establish that stuttering is a heterogeneous, brain-based neurobiological disorder, not a purely psychiatric or behavioral condition.
The statement calls on physicians to take a much more active role — from diagnostic workups to referrals and ongoing management. Interdisciplinary care spanning pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, and speech therapy is recommended as the standard for persistent stuttering, with speech therapy remaining the cornerstone. Clinicians are also cautioned that dopaminergic stimulants used for ADHD can worsen stuttering in some patients.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: With 80 million people affected globally and no approved treatments, this consensus statement is a long-overdue call to action — urging the medical community to treat stuttering with the same rigor applied to other neurological conditions.
