There is no doubt that anticipation of stuttering plays a key role in the maintenance of stuttering once it has become established. However, anticipation of stuttering is unlikely to play a role in its onset - simply because at the time of initial stuttering onset most children have no concept or experience of stuttering. It is however, likely that \*anticipation of communication failure\* and/or \*anticipation of eliciting negative listener responses\* may play a key role in the initial onset of stuttering... and then, as the stuttering becomes established, the anticipation of stuttering then also starts to play an increasingly important role. So by the time we are adults, it seems that moments of stuttering can be brought on by anticipation of a whole range of negative outcomes... including anticipation of communication failure, anticipation of negative listener responses, and anticipation of stuttering. The most common response to all of these anticipations is for us to perceive a need to make extra effort to try harder to speak "better" or more fluently... and it is likely that this perception then blocks our ability to execute the words and phrases we want to say... especially when we feel that what we want to say is important and needs to be said well.