Secondary Behaviors of Stuttering: Examples, Causes, and How to Reduce Them

Secondary behaviors of stuttering are the physical, verbal, and mental habits a person develops in response to stuttering. They are not the stutter itself. Things like blinking hard when a word gets stuck, tapping a foot to push through a block, avoiding certain words, or swapping “hello” for “hey” because “h” is easier that day. These behaviors start as small coping tricks, but over time they can become just as noticeable and just as tiring as the stuttering they were meant to hide. Understanding them is one of the most useful things anyone who stutters, or loves someone who does, can do.

If you have ever felt physically drained after a conversation that seemed fine on the surface, secondary behaviors are usually why. They eat up energy the listener never sees. And unlike the core stutter, which has a genetic and neurodevelopmental basis, secondary behaviors are learned, which means they can be retrained. The path to how to stop stuttering starts by understanding both what the stutter is doing and what the person is doing around the stutter.

Speech researchers sometimes call these behaviors “concomitants” or “accessory behaviors,” but “secondary behaviors” is the term you will hear most often. They split into a few categories, and once you can name what is happening, you can start to loosen its grip. This is exactly the kind of self-awareness that programs like online stuttering therapy work on early, because reducing secondary behaviors often produces bigger day-to-day changes than reducing the core stutter itself.

Here is why they matter. A person can stutter mildly and still look, sound, and feel like they are stuttering severely, all because of the secondary behaviors layered on top. Peel those layers back, and the underlying stutter often turns out to be much smaller than it seemed. That is one of the core insights behind the neuroscience method, which separates the core stutter from the learned layer of fear, tension, and avoidance, and retrains that learned layer through neuroplasticity.

Primary and Secondary Stuttering Behaviors: The Difference

Primary behaviors, also called core behaviors of stuttering, are the stutter itself:

• Repetitions: “b-b-b-ball”

• Prolongations: “mmmmilk”

• Blocks: silent moments where sound gets stuck

These come from the neurological timing patterns that create stuttering in the first place.

Secondary behaviors are what a person does in response to those primary ones:

• Head jerks, fist clenching, eye squeezing

• Filler sounds like “um” and “you know”

• Word substitution

• Avoiding phone calls

These are not part of the core neurological pattern. They are learned reactions that pile up over years of trying to manage or hide the stutter. For a visual way to think about the visible and hidden parts of stuttering, see our guide to the stuttering iceberg.

Primary is the stutter. Secondary is what someone does about it.

Escape vs. Avoidance: Common Examples of Secondary Stuttering Behaviors

Secondary behaviors fall into two types. Escape behaviors happen during a stuck moment, when the speaker tries to break free. Avoidance behaviors happen before one, when the speaker tries to dodge it entirely. Most people who stutter show at least a few of these.

Physical behaviors (usually escape)

• Blinking hard

• Jerking the head

• Tapping fingers or feet

• Clenching the jaw or tensing the neck (here’s how to relieve jaw tension)

• Losing eye contact right before a stuck word

Verbal behaviors (escape or avoidance)

• Using filler words (“um,” “like,” “you know”) to buy time

• Repeating a small word to get momentum (“well well well I was thinking”)

• Starting a sentence over

Avoidance behaviors

These are often the most invisible and the most damaging. When avoidance is so complete that no one notices the stutter at all, it is called covert stuttering.

• Swapping “difficult” words for easier ones

• Ordering something you did not really want at a restaurant because it was easier to say

• Skipping introductions

• Letting the phone ring (see phone call anxiety)

• Choosing a career that requires less speaking

Each of these started as a way to help. Each one made the moment feel more manageable. And each one, over time, becomes its own habit that stands in the way of natural speech.

Why Secondary Behaviors Change Over Time

Secondary behaviors don’t stay the same. They morph.

A child gets stuck on a word. By accident, a hard blink seems to shake it loose. The brain notes that blinking works, so the child blinks every time. Then the block comes back despite the blink. The brain realizes the old trick no longer breaks the block, so it searches for a new one. The blink becomes a foot tap. The foot tap becomes a throat clear. Later, that becomes word substitution.

Why this happens:

• Relief reinforces the habit. Any trick that seems to work, even by coincidence, gets repeated.

• Tricks stop working. A trick distracts the brain for a moment. When the novelty fades, the block returns.

• The brain keeps searching. It swaps in something new, often something more elaborate.

This is why a teenager’s stutter can look worse than it did at age six, even when the core stutter hasn’t changed. If you only fight the behavior you see today, a new one will take its place. The fear and tension driving the cycle are what need attention. If you are a parent, our guide to stuttering in 4-year-olds shows what early patterns look like.

Are They Tics, ADHD, or Stuttering Coping Mechanisms?

Secondary behaviors are easy to misread. Teachers, parents, and even healthcare providers sometimes mistake them for something else:

• Looking away is read as rudeness, disinterest, or defiance.

• Foot shifting and fidgeting are read as ADHD.

• Hard blinking is sent to the eye doctor for “eye strain.”

• Jaw or head jerks are labeled motor tics (read more on Tourette’s and stuttering).

• Silence in class is read as shyness or lack of preparation.

How to tell the difference:

1. Timing. Secondary behaviors cluster right before or during a stuck word. Tics and ADHD-related movement happen at any time, including while silent or watching TV.

2. Purpose. Does the movement seem to help the word come out, or hide the block?

3. Context. Do the behaviors increase under pressure, such as phone calls, reading aloud, or talking to authority figures? That points to stuttering.

Tics and stuttering can occur together, and neither rules out the other. If you’re unsure, ask for an evaluation from a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) who specializes in fluency. A child punished for “defiant” eye contact is a child whose stutter has gone unseen.

Stuttering and Brain Anatomy

Speech is a network job. Broca’s area helps plan the sequence of sounds. The motor cortex sends commands to the lips, tongue, and jaw. The basal ganglia act like a timer that releases each movement at the right moment. Brain imaging research suggests that in many people who stutter, the timing and coordination between these regions works differently. That is the core layer. For a deeper look, read what happens in the brain when you stutter.

The brain also has an alarm system that scans for threat. When a feared word or situation approaches, alarm competes with the speech network. Muscles tighten, breath goes shallow, and timing gets worse.

That gives you two layers:

• Core layer: genetic and neurodevelopmental. Not your fault.

• Learned layer: anticipatory fear, physical tension loops, and avoidance traps. Retrainable through neuroplasticity.

Secondary behaviors live in the learned layer. That is why they respond to practice.

The Cognitive Cycle of Anticipatory Fear

Secondary behaviors run on a loop with three barriers.

Barrier 1: The fear prediction. Your brain forecasts a block before you speak: “That word will get stuck.”

Barrier 2: The tension response. The forecast triggers alarm. Your jaw, throat, or chest tightens to push the word out.

Barrier 3: The escape move. You swap the word, fill the gap, or avoid the situation. The pressure drops.

That drop in pressure feels like relief, so the brain records it as proof that escaping worked and the danger was real. The next prediction arrives stronger. Building a fear hierarchy is one practical way to face these predictions step by step.

How the loop breaks

The loop breaks with a prediction error: a moment where the feared outcome does not happen, or happens and nothing bad follows. Your brain cannot collect that evidence if you escape every time.

Old patterns do not disappear entirely. Neural pathways weaken over time but can resurface under heavy stress, fatigue or pressure. That is normal. The goal is to build stronger new pathways and to know how to respond on hard days.

The Mental Exhaustion of Word Switching and Avoidance

The most draining secondary behavior is the one nobody sees.

Many people who stutter live about five seconds ahead of their own speech. While saying one word, they are already scanning the next sentence for trouble. Is a hard sound coming? Can I swap it? What’s another way to say this?

This is circumlocution: talking around a word instead of saying it. You want to say “Thursday,” but it feels risky, so you say “the day after Wednesday.”

The cost adds up:

• Divided attention. Half your brain is on the conversation. The other half is on damage control.

• Lost thoughts. You say the word you could say instead of the word you meant, and the idea shrinks.

• Fatigue and poor concentration. This shows up in school and at work, where contributions get shorter and opportunities go unclaimed.

This hidden cognitive load is why a “mild” stutter can feel enormous. The listener hears a few smooth sentences. The speaker just ran a marathon.

How to Reduce Secondary Behaviors in Stuttering

The biggest step is awareness. Most people who stutter do not fully realize how many secondary behaviors they use until someone points them out or they see themselves on video. Once you can spot them, you can start to gently interrupt them. Not all at once. One at a time. The order that usually works best:

1. Physical behaviors first: They are the most visible and often the most tiring.

2. Avoidance behaviors second: They quietly shape your life the most.

3. Filler and rephrasing habits last.

Working on secondary behaviors alone will not eliminate stuttering, but it usually reduces the overall visible severity by a lot. And when combined with brain-based retraining approaches, the results tend to compound.

Modern speech-language pathologists also go well beyond training the mouth. They use mind-body approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and desensitization to work on fear, tension, and avoidance together. Two main approaches are common (see the full comparison of fluency shaping vs. stuttering modification):

• Stuttering modification teaches you to stutter more easily: notice a block, soften it, and move through it without forcing or escaping. Pull-outs are one example.

• Fluency shaping teaches new speech patterns, such as slower rate, gentle starts to words, and controlled breathing.

Many clinicians blend both. Not sure where to start? Here is how to find a speech therapist.

A real-world script: breaking Barrier 3

Scene: a coffee shop counter. You want a cappuccino and predict a block on the “c.”

Your brain (silent prediction): “Cappuccino will stick. Order a latte instead.”

You (silent): (One slow breath out. Shoulders drop. Hands rest flat on the counter.)

Barista: “What can I get you?”

You: “Can I get a c... (small block, jaw soft, no foot tapping) ...cappuccino?” (Slow exhale. Eye contact stays.)

Barista: “Sure. Anything else?” (Already reaching for a cup.)

You (silent debrief): “I blocked. I did not swap the word. Nothing bad happened.”

That last line is the prediction error. Your brain predicted a problem and got a short pause and a cup of coffee.

The mindset shift

Secondary behaviors of stuttering are not signs of weakness or bad habits to feel guilty about. They were survival tools. They helped at some point. But holding onto them long after they stop helping is what turns them into an obstacle. Letting them go, gradually and without self-judgment, is often what unlocks the next stage of progress. If shame is part of the picture, read how to let go of shame when speaking.

The 3-Minute Daily Neuro-Fluency Drill

Do this once a day. It is short on purpose, so it is easy to keep. You can build on it with more stuttering therapy techniques to practice at home.

Minute 1: Lower the alarm
☐ Sit comfortably. Drop your shoulders and unclench your jaw.
☐ Breathe in slowly through the nose, then out longer than you breathed in. (Diaphragmatic breathing helps here.)

Minute 2: Name it, then say it
☐ Pick one word or phrase you usually avoid.
☐ Say quietly: “My brain is predicting a block.”
☐ Say the word aloud. Allow a block if it comes. Pause, soften, continue.
☐ Skip your usual escape move (the swap, the filler, the foot tap).

Minute 3: Log the evidence
☐ Write one line: “I predicted ___. What happened was ___.”
☐ Note one secondary behavior you noticed, without judging it.

What to Do (and Avoid) When You Notice Someone’s Secondary Behaviors

If you talk with someone who stutters, you shape how much pressure they feel. For more, see our dos and don’ts for supporting a partner who stutters.

Do:

• Keep natural eye contact. Looking away signals discomfort.

• Wait patiently and let them finish at their own pace.

• Listen to the message, not the delivery.

Avoid:

• Finishing their sentences. It takes away their voice.

• Saying “slow down” or “just relax.” It feels dismissive.

• Commenting on the blinking, tapping, or tension. It adds shame.

• Punishing the behavior. Looking away or fidgeting is not disrespect.

The best response to a stuck word is a patient, interested listener.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some interesting facts about stuttering for kids?

• About 5 percent of children stutter at some point while learning to talk.

• Roughly 3 out of 4 children outgrow it, especially with early support.

• Many people who stutter speak smoothly when singing, whispering, or talking to a pet.

• Stuttering is not caused by being nervous, shy, or doing something wrong.

• Many successful actors, athletes, writers, and leaders stutter.

Tell kids: Stuttering is just one way a voice works. It doesn’t mean you’re less smart or less capable. More in our facts about stuttering.

What are some strategies to improve stuttering?

• See a certified SLP who specializes in fluency.

• Build awareness of your secondary behaviors, using video if you can.

• Practice voluntary, easy stuttering instead of escaping or hiding (paradoxical intention is a related technique).

• Say the words you usually avoid, starting in low-pressure settings.

• Reduce physical tension with slow, relaxed breathing before speaking.

• Track your wins with the daily drill above.

How to tell if stuttering is neurological?

Core stuttering has a neurodevelopmental basis. Research suggests differences in how speech planning, motor control, and timing regions of the brain coordinate. It also runs in families.

Signs it is developmental stuttering:

• It began in early childhood, usually between ages 2 and 5.

• It involves repetitions, prolongations, and blocks.

• It varies by situation, often worse under pressure and easier when singing.

• Someone in the family stutters or has stuttered.

If stuttering begins suddenly in an adult, especially after a head injury, stroke, or new medication, see a doctor promptly. That pattern can have a different cause. Learn more about adult-onset stuttering and neurogenic vs. psychogenic stuttering.

What are the differences between primary and secondary stuttering behaviors?

Primary behaviors are the core stutter: repetitions, prolongations, and blocks caused by the underlying neurological pattern. Secondary behaviors are the reactions and coping habits that build up around the stutter over time. Primary is the stutter itself. Secondary is what someone does about it.

What are secondary behaviors in stuttering?

They are the physical, verbal, and mental habits a person develops to cope with, hide, or push through moments of stuttering. Examples include eye blinking, foot tapping, using filler words, and avoiding difficult sounds or situations. They are learned responses layered on top of the stutter itself.

What are examples of secondary stuttering behaviors?

Common ones include hard blinking, head jerks, fist clenching, jaw tension, loss of eye contact, filler words like “um,” repeating short words to gain momentum, swapping difficult words for easier ones, and avoiding certain speaking situations altogether.

How do you reduce secondary behaviors in stuttering?

Start with awareness. Notice which behaviors you use most, then work on them one at a time: physical first, then avoidance, then verbal habits. Brain-based retraining tends to produce the most lasting reduction because it addresses fear, tension, and avoidance together.

Where This Leaves You

The core stutter has a neurodevelopmental basis, but the layers around it are learned, and learned layers can change. The goal isn’t perfect fluency. It’s confident, effective communication. Once you can name the secondary behaviors of stuttering, you can start testing the fear behind them, one small, honest speaking moment at a time. For more on the emotional side, read about the emotional effects of stuttering and how to rebuild confidence.