>"Stuttering primarily happens when I'm trying to start sentences" Research states that we stutter more often at the start of a sentence. Because, right at that moment, is when we perceive the most pressure/conflict/demand. Think of it as, only saying "hello" might evoke less pressure then saying a whole sentence "hello how was your day last week". The longer a word or sentence, the more pressure we might have to speak fluently (fluency pressure), or the more we fear that stuttering might happen (stuttering pressure). There are 100s of other kinds of pressure thru expectations. Expectations like "It makes sense that saying longer utterances, leads to more perceived conflict to initiate speech." Conclusion: So, I draw the conclusion that many people who stutter might use escape behaviors (to temporarily gain more fluency). However, I think in the long-term it might be more effective to target this "pressure" (rather than using escape behaviors).. think of it as an opportunity to desensitize to this kind of pressure that "the beginning of a sentence" \[trigger\] tends to evoke. You can do deskresearch and google for "desensitizing to pressure or high expectations" or something similar.