Children who are bilingual before the age of five are more likely to stutter and find it more difficult to overcome their impediment compared to children who only speak one language, new research suggests.

In a study of more than 300 children, British researchers found that more children who were bilingual from birth stuttered compared to kids who spoke either English or another language exclusively at home.
The scientists found that almost 61 percent of kids who spoke both English and a second language at home stuttered.
In comparison, less than 40 percent of children who exclusively spoke a language other than English at home stuttered.
The findings are published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
When the researchers compared rates of recovery from stuttering, 50 per cent of kids who only spoke one language before the age of five had stopped stuttering by age 12.
Conversely, only 25 percent of children who spoke two languages at home prior to age five had overcome stuttering by age 12.
Stuttering did not affect the children's performance in school, the researchers said.
The study's authors did not speculate how being bilingual increases the likelihood a child will stutter.
However, they said their findings suggest that children who grow up speaking an alternative language exclusively at home should delay learning English to reduce their risk of stuttering.