Shonda Rhimes’ newest series on Netflix “Bridgerton” includes a storyline related to stuttering!
Are you like me, enjoying your Boxing Day morning by enjoying Netflix?! A few of my friends recommended the series and I decided to give it a try, plus you can’t go wrong with a series from Shonda Rhimes! She’s given us Grey’s Anatomy and my personal favorite… Scandal.
I won’t give away any of the plot, but one of the leading characters has a stutter in childhood which affects family relationships and is a major mover of the storyline.
I decided to list a few facts of stuttering.
1-Stuttering (aka stammering) is a speech disorder that causes the flow of speech to be broken up.
2-About 5% of children (1 in 20) ages 2 to 5 will develop some stuttering during their childhood. It may last for several weeks to several years.
3-While some will recover by age 7 or 8, 1 out of every 100 children will be left with long-term stuttering.
4-Stuttering is more common in boys than girls. It also tends to persist into adulthood more often in boys than in girls.
5-More than 70 million people worldwide are stutterers — that’s one in every 100. In the US, more than 3 million people stutter.
6-Stuttering is a biological and neurological condition that is caused by one or more of four possible triggers, the first being genetics. Stuttering tends to run in families, and genes that cause stuttering have been identified.
7-Child development is another possible cause, as children with other speech/language problems or developmental delays are more likely to stutter.
8-Family dynamics may cause stuttering too, with high expectations, fast-paced lifestyles, and emotional trauma having an impact
This last fact is very evident in Bridgerton!
Are you watching? What are your thoughts? Who do you think is Lady Whistledown? Let me know below. By the way, many scenes and themes are not kid friendly!
