>*Also imo, the term “stuttering” itself may be part of the problem. It only describes the symptom, not the cause. What we call “stuttering” is actually a broad range of neurological delays and mismatches* ***between intention and speech****. Reframing it with a name based on cause, not outcome, could reduce stigma and help precision treatment.* Yes precisely.. There is an SLP - [O'Malley ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vf2RrvsMEFyVdhGYhGguT9v83yxxEpom/view?usp=sharing)\- who formulates it as follows: "**Stuttering is primarily caused by a reward-punishment mechanism**": Consistent miscalculation of “action values” by the subconscious resulting in low“motivational vigour” in the performance of movements (expected reward and/or avoidance of punishment; a movement disorder with reward processing at its root). If this is true, then I agree with your idea of stopping with labeling it as a stutter disorder, personally I'd call it a maladaptive evaluation process for freezing (rather than a stutter disorder). As Matthew states: "**Stuttering is a movement disorder with reward processing at its root.**" So I think a good discussion topic is how to address this malfunctioned evaluation process right before we stutter. As Matthew states: "*Fear is an anticipatory emotion. The presence of fear is an indicator that you are expecting to experience pain on some level. An effective goal might be to change this expectation of pain linked with speech movements - rather than removing the fear. Stuttering is triggered by the expectation of pain; not due to the fear itself.*" So I think a good discussion topic is not "addressing fear", rather strengths and weaknesses of strategies that target the expectation of pain/punishment. In other words, a good discussion topic may be: \---The need to make our evaluation process of pain, maladaptive, for the freeze response.--- If it's true that fear isn't the problem, then why have we LEARNED to *need to evaluate and reduce fear* at all (a shift in the cost/benefit ratio of moving), for “motivational vigour” based on the expected reward (impaired ‘motor motivation). So I think a good topic would be to discuss why we NEED to compute action values (projecting/calculating reward/punishment values to different speech movements) for the freeze response? Because if we often speak fluently alone, then "fear" of a spider won't suddenly lead to a freeze/panic response or to stuttering. So it's not the fear of a spider - that's causing a freeze response, rather our expectation (i.e., need) for maladaptive evaluation (e.g., of fearful stimuli) for the freeze response, I think. *Anyway. In 2025, we should be highlighting these discussion topics!* **Your post is on point!**