3 Year Old with a Major Stutter

Hi L., I am a speech pathologist so hopefully I can provide some good advice. Although what I'm about to say is not straightforward, I hope it helps. Many children develop a minor stutter around 2-3 years old because of a "language explosion", however this is also the same time that a real stutter develops. If it is happening frequently (more than 5x a day), I would seek the help of a speech-language pathologist. In the meantime, do not call attention to it and just be patient when he does stutter and listen. Don't finish his sentence for him, just let him say what he has to say no longer how long it takes. I hope this helps and feel free to contact me privately if you need to ask any more questions.

K.

You've gotten a lot of advice about Speech Therapists and talking to your doctor, which are good ideas, so I'm going to go a different route. Is he doing it all the time, or only when he's excited/trying to tell you something important to him? When I worked in daycare, it wasn't uncommon for some of the kids (mostly boys, oddly enough) to develop a bit of a stutter around this age when they were trying to get something out quickly, or their brain had already moved onto something else while they were trying to talk. Most kids -do- grow out of it on their own, but it can be frustrating to try to handle.

Have him evaluated by your local school system ASAP! Your son qualifies for speech services (which he may or may not need) and the sooner the better.

Hi,
My daughter, now eight, had the same problem at 3 yrs old. I was really stressing about it and talked to my sister who is a speech therapist. She told me a lot of kids go through that and to give it time. She did grow out of it by about three and a half. Give it time, if it continues past 3 1/2 it wouldn't hurt to get him checked out. Good luck, L.

Talk with your local school district and ask for an evaluation....they will evaluate his speech (as well as his motor skills) and then offer therapy / services if required - free of charge. My son needed speech therapy in order to talk. I'm not sure what type of therapy there is for a stutter - but at least they can tell you if this is normal, how to handle and who else to see, if necessary.

Hi,
I'm a speech therapist who works with preschoolers. It is normal for children ages 3-5 to go through a stage of stuttering called "normal disfluencies" because their language is developing so rapidly that their motor speech development can't keep up and they experience stuttering. Since your son started speaking so early, it's possible that his language is developing faster than his speech motor skills and that is why he is stuttering. Typically children under 3 have difficulties producing certain sounds, and if he is trying to talk a lot and rapidly, it may be difficult for him to talk fluently. Since I haven't listened to your son speak, I can't say for sure if it is severe or not, so it wouldn't hurt to consult a speech therapist. If he is going to a preschool in the fall, and there is a speech therapist there, she could probably monitor him to see if it gets worse etc. Advice that I usually give parents of preschoolers who stutter, is to try not to interrupt him or finish his sentences. Let him take his time to finish and model easy speech when you talk (which is slow, soft speech) so he won't have as much tension when he speaks.

Well I hope that helps. I'm pretty sure he will grow out of it, but it doesn't hurt to have a speech therapist listen to him. It's hard to explain this in an email, so I hope it wasn't too wordy and technical!

Jenny
p.s. I just reread your "about me" section and saw that you have a 2 month old daughter. Sometimes a big change in the family, such as the birth of a new sibling, can set off stuttering, and this is very normal.

My son, he'll be 9 next month, stuttered when he began to talk - don't remember the age. I spoke with the pediatrician and tried to ride it out. As someone else said, it did/does seem to come in waves. After a while I could pinpoint it to his half birthday and birthday - growing spurts. It was getting better but in 1st grade it really became a problem. He started receiving services from the school but I was very frustrated because the reports we would get from the patholgist was that he was fine when she saw him but in class. At home he wasn't improving, nor in the classroom. Summer came and last August one of my relatives talked to him on the phone and was shocked at how bad it was, which I had already noticed. His birthday is in September so I told her that. She told me that John Stossel of 20/20 used to stutter and overcame it so I started doing some research. I found out that Dr. David Daly, a man who once stuttered himself, overcame it on his own, and is now a recognized expert in the field, has a clinic in Farmington. My son started services there last August and made great strides. The best thing about Dr. Daly is that he stuttered once himself - you'd never know it now. That helped my son know he's not alone. While I don't necessarily recommend this now, it might be something to keep in the back of your mind for later in case it doesn't get better. My son still stutters but there have been many changes in our household - dad unemployed for a year now, me working 2 jobs now when I used to stay at home, he'll be attending a new school next week because he was accepted in the PCCS TAG program, and I just haven't had the time to work with him. I have no doubt that he'll overcome it - just not as fast as I'd like him to. The list of famous people who overcame it is amazing - Marylin Monroe, Carly Simon, Tiger Woods, James Earl Jones just to name a few. My point is that if it doesn't improve, seek help, especially outside the schools if necessary. Dr. Daly's phone number is ###-###-####.

To the speech pathologists - Dr. Daly offers free observation of his techniques if your patient is one of his. People all over the world come to see him and he charges them. My son's speech patholgist didn't take advantage of this offer and I beleive it impacted his treatment.

Sorry this so long. I hope it helps and that your son overcomes it soon.

K.

Hi L.,
I noticed my 3 year old (also an early talker) began stuttering several months ago. It went on for several weeks and eventually it stopped. From what I read, it is normal for kids at that age b/c sometimes their minds are racing faster than their tongues can keep up. And since she has an older brother and a younger sister around, she was often clamoring to be the first (and loudest) one heard. Your son will most likely outgrow in a little while.
Best wishes,
F.

Hi L.,
I have been going through the exact same thing with my son for the past year or more. He started speaking well at a young age and then ended up with a stutter. I recommend (as the others have) to check with your pediatrician to see what they say. Stuttering is normal in young kids, especially those with early language development. They have so much to say and can't get it out as quickly as it comes into their head. I found that my son's stuttering came and went in waves. Sometimes it would be pretty bad and then a month later it would be nearly gone, then it would come back again. He is now just over 4 years old and it I believe it is about gone for good. There is a very small percentage of kids that end up with a stuttering issue later into life. It is developmentally normal for kids to stutter. Definitely check with your doctor though. There is therapy that can be done. We chose to wait it out and that worked for us. Good luck! You are not alone :-)

Oh, one more thing. I did speak with a speech therapist about how to deal with it at home. He said that if your child is struggling to say something, don't ignore it. It is ok to say something like, "I see you are struggling to get the words out. Sometimes Mommy had trouble getting words out when she was your age too." He said ignoring it is like ignoring a fever (or the elephant in the room). The child knows they are having trouble so it is ok to acknowlege it and help them so they feel ok about it (not embarassed). Ok..now I'll stop babbling.

If you are concerned, I would ask your prediatrician to be safe. I have a friend whose son started to stutter around that age, and was adviced by the teacher to consult a speech therapist. It ended up being nothing to worry about. Sometimes is just that they are trying to speak too fast whatever they have in their minds. However if it is something that needs to be worked on, better sooner than later.

La Shelle,

I would have him looked at by a speech therapist to have him evaluated. Either talk to your pediatrician or call your local elementary school or district-provided preschool and ask about it. You may even be able to get free preschool for him because of it. The earlier you work on it the less time it takes to reverse the pattern and he'll be less conscious of it, as they get older and into elementary school the other kids can be mean about anything they see as different. My nephews both have speech issues, but mom and dad wouldn't admit it until they were in school and the school diagnosed it. They're 5 and 7 and are still very difficult to understand. The worst (or best) thing that could happen is they'll say he's fine, but no matter what your mind will be at peace about it.

Good luck!

H.

My oldest son (he's almost 20 now)had a similar problem when he was around 3 years old. He would get stuck on a word in a sentence and he would say it over and over. We would never prompt him for the next word or correct him. We would just be patience and wait for him to finish his sentence. We were told he would grow out of the problem and eventually he did. You should probably mention the problem to your family doctor. Talking to your doctor will relieve any concerns you have. Good luck.