4 Year Old Stuttering

My uncle had a stutter. He developed it at a young age, but continued because his mother always reminded him about it. Pretty soon he couln't get rid of it. At that time, they didn't give speech therapy, so up until he died he had a stutter.
My brother had a stutter. My parents asked us to ignore it. We did. As an adult he doesn't have one.
My advice would be ... ignore it and it will go away.

I cannot help you with how to help her. As a 62 year old (with an 18 year old son) I can only tell you that I was a stutterer for many years. Get help! Doesn't matter what it takes! I was teased non-stop in elementary school (and it is still so fresh) and you don't want it to get to that. Maybe contact a speech therapist to see if you can get one appt. and learn how to help her. I can tell you from experience that the more you push her the more she will stutter. There has to be a right way. When I was made to talk I had to concentrate so hard to do it correctly that it was so much worse, if and when I was able to say it. It is not a pleasant "disorder. The good side is that I can tell you I have not studdered for years upon years. If you would like to contact me, I will be happy to be a shoulder. I so remember what it was like.
N. - ____@____.com

Hi A.,

It could be that her little mind is working too fast and her mouth is trying to catch up. But please do not be afraid of speech therapy.

My son could not pronounce certain sounds at four. For instance, he could not even say the letter v. He would point to a v if you asked where the letter was, but could not say it. He also sounded like he had a southern accent. People would ask if he was new to California.

We had him evaluated at our local school. When it was determined he needed help with his speech he was enrolled in a speech preschool. It was two days a week for a couple of hours. Everything was based on play. He loved it. It was just like his other preschool.

Once in Kinder he continued with speech. I was afraid of him being teased. But to be honest, the only time I saw him teased was at a party by a 10 year old boy. The boy's father saw too and I think he learned a hard lesson that day. The teachers I spoke with say that the kids are envious of the ones that get to leave class to do "special" things. I thought that my son's classmates were very sensitive and supportive. He continued in speech until the end of second grade. Our speech therapy experience was wonderful.

I understand your hesitancy. I was hurt as a mom when I first realized my son was not developing the way he should. But I think my feelings were based on the unknown and the mom desire to make everything perfect. I was taught by his speech impediment to go with the flow, and that has helped me somewhat in my parenting.

Again, your daughter's stutter could be just the processing of her vocabulary. I think it would be reassuring to you to get her checked out. It is a free service and it is very easy on her as well.

All you need to do is call your local school district. I am not sure if they would be closed for summer so you might have to wait for next year. They will set up an evaluation which is just asking your daughter to say certain things. If they feel there is a problem you will go on from there.

My son is ten now. He speaks very well. His esteem is great. He has many friends and is a leadership program at school. If you put him in a lineup of boys you would not be able to pick him out as the one who once had speech therapy.

I know your daughter will be fine either way.

Good luck to you.

C.

I would have to agree with Carrie. The therapy services are free in the public school system and the evaluation is also free of charge but takes a few weeks to complete and know the results. At the end of the evaluation, the goals for services will be formulated, if it is determined that your daughter qualifies for any special services. There is nothing shameful about seeking help for your children when/if you need to, for any reason. Services are available for whatever problems your children have; you are not a failure as a parent if your child has any type of medical/emotional/social problem and there is therapy available, if you seek it. As a parent, it is your job to do the best you can for your children, including seeking outside help if needed. Please don't be embarressed if you ever need to consult physicians, psychologists, speech therapists or any other professional person. You only want to do what is best as a mom.

The very best to you,
J.

A.,
This is a normal, almost cyclical speech pattern for little ones - all the way up to age seven. I have done the research myself (am a pediatric physical therapist) and my twin boys (now almost six) have had periods of stuttering since they were about four. In their cases it usually last for a month or two and in one instance was brought on by an overly demanding kindergarten teacher. I would definitely encourage her to "slow down" if you can't get her to speak clearly, otherwise I would just make a mental note of when it starts and when it seems to taper off...again, it's something that occurs in a significant number of children - up to the age of seven per the speech experts...
Take care and I hope this helps,
A.

My son has been doing this as well. He's only two, but the doctor has assured us this is a normal stage for kids. It will pass in a few months...it may be brought on by a new stress in your childs life, or just the fact that she is learning new things and they all go through her head. I hope it helps to know another kid is experiencing the same thing.

A.,
I don't think that is stuttering. My Daughter did the same thing at 4 and when we visited the pediatrician I had her evaluate her, the Pediatrician laughed it off and said, that's not stuttering listen to it, her brain is working faster than her mouth. She actually said this was occurring because she was smart and precocious. Stuttering sounds like Thththththat, like she is having a hard getting the word out, what we experienced was my Daughter repeating herself. It will go away, she rarely does it now and she is 4.5.
Good luck.

We have a family friend who is a child speech therapist. She said that at around 3 years of age it is normal for childern to start stuttering. This has something to do with the hormone, seratonin. I guess around the age of 3-4 seratonin levels rise. She told me that people often bring in their children of that age with this "problem". She reassures them that although it seems pathological it is actually normal and nothing to worry about. I am not sure how long she said this phase lasts. Maybe you could google seratonin and stuttering in children. I hope this helps you.
-M.

My son, who is right around your girls age, stuttered for about a month or so. This was just a few months back. I'd take her to your ped to calm your nerves. My ped assured me it was a temporary phase he was going through because of the point in development the brain is at with speech. Something about they are thinking faster than they can talk if I remember correctly. There is some great information about stuttering athttp://www.stutteringhelp.org/ which is the Stuttering Foundation of America. There is a specific link on the left hand side for "Parents of Preschoolers." I certainly hope her phase passes as my son's did. It lasted about a month of so then went away just as quickly as it appeared. Best of luck to you :)

Hi A.,
My son at this age maybe a little younger was doing the same thing. He is now 11. I took him to the speech therapist in our school district. He started speech before he entered kindergarten. The speech therapist worked with him, but they considered it a normal developmental phase, They said because he is smart he had so much that he wanted to say, but stuttered because he couldn't get it all out. Anyways, to say it only took a little time and it passed. Good luck.

Usually a child will just grow out of doing this, especially if it is something new. If you want to take her to a speech therapist, usually the elementary schools provide this for children before they are school age. I took my son to speech when he was 3 at the elementary school. It is free of charge.

I just wouldn't make a big deal out of it. I think maybe she keeps doing it for your reaction she gets from you. It is an attention getter. I hope this helps you.

Hi A.,

This is a normal phase of speech acquisition and she is likely to pass through it more quickly if you ignore it than if you correct her (it's technically a stammer, or dysfluency -- not a stutter). In fact, studies conducted in the 1930's showed that the best way to CREATE a stutterer is by calling attention to abnormal speech patterns and constantly correcting speech.

As a personal example of this, my daughter had severe articulation problems and was enrolled in speech therapy at the end of Kindergarten (when the schools usually test for speech issues). She did not stutter or stammer when she entered therapy, but after 4 years of therapy, she was able to pronounce almost 100% of English phonemes (sounds) but had developed a very bad dysfluency. The therapist recommended stopping the therapy because the amount of attention Laura was paying to her articulation was causing the problem. (It's a kind of vocal/aural feedback dysfunction). The therapist hoped that reducing the amount of focus would allow the problem to self correct in 1 or 2 years. Unfortunately, it didn't, and Laura ended up needing 2 more years of dysfluency training in middle school.

Let it go. If your daughter's still dysfluent by 2nd or 3rd grade, then would be the time to try to correct it. CSUN has a great dysfluency clinic if the school speech therapist is not equipped to handle such education. It's fairly specialized and I can tell you that I was VERY satisfied with the therapy that my daughter received there.

My 4 year old does something similar, too. He has amazing verbal skills, yet will sometimes get stuck on a syllable and repeat it 5-10 times before he is able to move on. It hasn't really concerned me, but I read some of your responses just out of curiosity. I am glad to see that it appears to be a normal part of developement. I figured it was, but it's nice to hear it! :) My son amazes me daily with how smart and intuitive he is and I tend to observe most of his peculiarities with curiosity and wonder. Many things that I thought might become a concern in his develpement have simply passed. With the stutter, he was doing it more frequently a few months ago, then he just did it once the other day and I realized it had been a long time since I had heard it. Maybe he is on the way to outgrowing it.

Good morning A.,
My daughter is 4 and she has a hard time spitting out what she wants to say sometimes. At the begining of her sentence when it comes to saying one of the "W's" it sounds the same as you are describing your daughter with the I I I I. She has gotten better with it. I am just patient with her and let her group her thoughts and then tell me what she has to say. Now she hardly does it. I also noticed a lot of her "trouble words" have become less troublesome for her and her speech is really clearing up. Just want to share my experience with you.

My first start starts the same way as the previous response. It could be that your child's mouth isn't catching up to her brain. But don't be afraid of a therapist. My son had a lisp and a stutter for a while (he still has a little hard time with some words), I took him to a speech therapist. I was told nothing was wrong with him. That for the amount of stuttering and lisp, it is natural at his age. He is slowly outgrowing some of his speech problems. The main thing that eased my worries is that it isn't a learning problem. So, if you are worried, go see a therapist.

Hi A.,
My daughter stuttered for about 6 months around the same age that yours is. She was not bothered or frusrated by it, however; just my hubby and I were. I asked my friend, who is a speech therapist, about it. She said that my daughter would most likely outgrow the stutter, but if she did not by the time she started kindergarten, then you should be able to get free speech therapy through your public elementary school (if you live in CA; not sure about other state's policy on this). If you feel like she needs therapy sooner, I do believe, but am not sure, that you can request free therapy through your public school before she starts kindergarten. You'd have to check to make sure.

At any rate, my daughter did eventually outgrow the stutter, and is currently outgrowing another speech problem (pronouncing her "s" like "th").

Best of luck to you. You might also try googling your problem on webmd or parent center websites to see what they suggest.

Take care,
L.

A.,
At this age this is NORMAL and DEVELOPMENTAL. Really try to find out the difference between stuttering and repetition
There is a wonderful series of books by Louise Bates Ames, Your Four Year Old, is just one, and this is mentioned. Several of the moms at the pre-school were concerned, but then all the kids grew out of it.
If it doesn't pass in about 7 months, then I'd seek help, but in the meantime research stuttering vs. repetition and relax - she's developmentally where she should be!