Avoidance Behaviour

Strategies used by people who stutter to conceal or prevent stuttering events, including substituting feared words with easier alternatives, talking around a word (circumlocution), using filler words to delay, avoiding certain speaking situations entirely, or pretending to have forgotten what they wanted to say. While avoidance behaviours can help conceal stuttering in the moment, research suggests they can have negative effects on self-esteem and quality of life, as the constant mental effort of monitoring and substituting adds cognitive burden and reinforces the belief that stuttering must be hidden. All people who stutter use avoidance strategies to some degree.