Uganda, April 8 -- I stammer a lot but surprisingly, I do not repeat the words while writing. Why? Obadiah

Dear Obadiah,

Laboured speech with pauses and a tendency to repeat the initial letters of words with grimacing, is known as stammering.

Stammering is most common in children younger than five years, particularly males, and runs in families mostly occurring as children develop their speech and language abilities.

This may be worsened by anxiety but goes away without treatment as the child grows older.

Happening in old age, however, it is mostly due to brain injury following a stroke or a road traffic accident.

Stammering may originate from conditions affecting the wiring of the brain that also involve the brain area of speech re...