Stuttering?

[ellairiesmom]

DD1 turns 3 in a month. She has been very verbal since early on & speaking in sentences clearly for awhile. Over the past couple months, she has developed a stutter & I can't tell if it's a "normal" brain working faster than mouth thing or an actual issue.

It often happens on the 1st or 2nd word of a sentence. So for example..."Mommy, can, can can, can, can I play with Samantha & Jack outside?" or "I, I, I, I, I, I like to go there." Something along those lines...

I have gone through 3 stages of worrying about it...when it 1st happened, I was really worried, shocked & scared. Then I thought it was very typical, just a case of so much verbal development so fast etc., but now I am back to being worried about it again & wondering if it's a step backwards & she should be evaluated?

Any insight?

Thx!

[kittywitty]

I was told at this age, it's pretty common. My youngest stutters fairly badly and I was told it's too early to do anything about it.

[pbjmama]

I think its normal.

[carmel23]

Sounds totally normal. She is just trying to get everything in sync. If she still stutters at 5 I'd be concerned. (But then again my 9 year-old does this sometimes when he starts talking, gets distracted, and still is talking )

[DevaMajka]

My ds1 did this when he was 4 (I don't know if this is related, but he started taling relatively late). He stuttered on the first word in the sentence most of the time, and rarely the middle of the sentence.
There was a point where he would repeat the sound 10 times or so. He started noticing and getting frustrate by it, so I started basically telling him to relax and collect his thoughts and try again. It wasn't long after I posted about it (and was wondering whether to worry or not) that it got much better, and he totally grew out of it fairly quickly, IIrc.

[Chocomama]

My daughter went through this for a few months around 2.5yrs old as well. Like your child, she is very verbal, talking early and in complete sentences. It started with the beginnings of words and sentences, and it got worse before it got better, to the point where she was very upset and frustrated by it (and friends thought there was something wrong with her...she would literally get "stuck" and repeat a sound over 10 times louder and louder). I felt so bad for her! I asked our pediatrician at her 2.5 well check, and was relieved to hear it is totally normal. The way she explained it was that her mind was working faster than her mouth could keep up with. The pediatrician advised me not to make a big deal (I'd figured that already) and to just visibly take deep breaths when she was doing it. That really seemed to help calm both of us down. She's just about three now, rarely stutters, and is talking my ears off with wonderful, imaginative stories (and many many whiny requests).

[ellemenope]

I think it was only a couple weeks ago I responded to another thread about this saying DD was in full stutter mode. She has now completely stopped.

I wanna vote it is totally a phase and has something to do with a new level of fluency.

[PatchChild]

More votes for totally normal. DS has been in speech therapy since about six months old (hearing loss). His speech is off the chart now, but it was nice to have access to a speech therapist for all the questions along the way.

He also did the repeated word stuttering, called a dysfluency. Totally normal, and it does eventually go away. He was really bad with it for a few months, though it never seemed to borrow him. It was generally worse when he was tired or super excited.

Now, at three and a half, he rarely slips back into it.

[~Amy~]

My 2.5 yo just started stuttering this week. I think it's normal.

[Tway]

I remember my sister doing this at about 3 or 4, especially if she was really excited. She'd often say "And, and, and, after that, after that, and after that...", so my parents assumed she was stalling for time to think of what to say next, as well.

Anyway, she grew out of it and speaks very fine. Actually a rep for a big company, so she's even got the gift of gab!

[A&A]

My ds needed speech therapy to get over the stuttering. So, while it may be normal, keep an eye on it and perhaps consult a speech therapist if it continues.

[ellairiesmom]

thx for all the replies. everyone is describing exactly what's going on here.

it has moments of getting worse & yesterday my mom even commented about it. she's saying she thinks we should say something like "take your time honey"??????

not sure how much we should talk about it with her or comment while it's happening?

[DevaMajka]

I didn't say anything about it unless it was clear that ds noticed/was bothered by it. At that point, I told him to relax and take his time, and it seemed to help (it definitely didn't cause any problems or embarrassment on his part). I may have mentioned something about his mouth needing time to catch up to his brain, but I'm not sure- it just sounds like something I'd say. lol

[ellairiesmom]

just yesterday or the day before, she did get frustrated and said something like "i can't say it" or "i can't talk"...it was the 1st time she acknowledged it. i told her to take a breath & relax.

she is also now mouthing the stutter...so hard to explain this in words...but she will silently repeat the word over & over again (mouthing it a little bit exaggerated) instead of outloud. it's like she doesn't want to hear herself struggle??? or maybe that's something else going on?

we were at my cousins today & i pointed it out to her husband without dd noticing & he thought it was a total brain faster than mouth thing.

i think i'm a worrier in general so i'll be paying close attention. i don't want to be nervous about every little thing because i am realizing how there will be lots of little things...but it's so hard to watch her struggle.

thx everyone!