How to Handle a 6 Year Olds Sudden Stuttering

My son, who is the 3rd child, went through this in Kindergarten. I did not really notice it but his teacher did and recommended him for speech therapy through the school. All the research that I did showed not to say "Stop" but to stop what you are doing and get to their level and show that you are listening to what they have to say. If you bring negative attention to the stuttering it creates a stress for the child and perpetuates the stuttering. My son was trying to get his thoughts out too fast. His brain was going faster than his mouth and he wanted to get everything out before a sibling or friend would interupt him. We had a family meeting and talked about not talking over each other and to let each other finish their thoughts before anyone else could talk. The speech therapist did give him some relaxation techniques and told me to prompt him to get his thoughts together. It is very important to not make them feel self conscious about it. My son is now 10 and has not stuttered since 2nd grade.

Hi Linda and Dennis,

Your 6 year old is probably going through a normal period of disfluency. Try to pay attention to what he is saying to you, rather than how he is saying it. Everyone has "bumps" regarding their fluency from time to time. Do NOT say such things as "slow down" or "say it again". Make sure that you're h spending time with your child doing all sorts of things together (even folding laundry- etc.) Watch and monitor the situation. If your child is still disfluent in 6 months then talk to your school based speech/language pathologist.
(the politically incorrect term is speech therapist).

I have been working as a SLP with the schools for 30 years (wow- how time flies). My second biological child went through a period of disfluency and even had some blocks. I gave her lots of extra TLC for 2-3 weeks,- thinking that after this time I'd need to refer her for treatment. Something matured in her system after all the extra hugs and words of affirmation and she pulled out of the disfluent period.

Happy New Year. My son went through this and after a session with a speech therapist he told us that he was trying to talk too fast. He was trying to compete with his siblings, trying to get his words in, in between everyone elses. So what we did was give him his time to speak without any interruptions, or hurry-ups from everyone else. Then when he spoke to me I made a point of stopping what I was doing, looked him in the eyes, and let him speak slowly. It took about a month but his stammering disappeared. We lead such busy lives that sometimes we forget to just stop and listen.

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My son went through this a few years ago. I was able to get him into speech therapy and within two months it was gone. All the reserch I did on the matter recommended not trying to correct him when there was a problem and just keeping things calm and comfortable. If you don't see an improvement I would try to get him help through the school district. This will help you feel better if nothing else. W.

Both my children had speech issues; lisp, stuttering. I took them to a speech pathologist and they told me not to worry about it too much because they are developing well. That sometimes childrens' minds move faster than their lips and it comes out as a stutter or a lisp. What the pathologist looked for was any signs that their learning was hindered. Monitor their learning progress, if there are other problems, then contact the doctor again. In the mean time we should try helping the children speak slower and gather their thoughts before speaking. But still definitely speak to a specialist if possible for any profession advice. Make sure it isn't a disability as compared to thoughts moving faster than the lips can keep up with.

I just celebrated my 80th birthday the 9th of December, so this goes waaaaaaaaay back, but I know how worrisome this can be. When my oldest daughter was about 3 or 4, she also started stuttering terribly!!! The comments from relatives, very well intended, I'm sure, didn't help. One day, inspiration or perhaps the answer to a prayer, while she was stuttering I scooped her up in my arms and repeated what she had just, - stuttering just as she had just done - and then hugging her closely I laughed just as if was the funniest thing I had ever heard. I continued to do this every time she stuttered and guess what - within a very short time she stopped stuttering and never did it again. I hope this helps.

My 4 year old started to stutter as well about a year ago. I learned that he KNEW he was stuttering and was self conscious about not being able to say things correctly. When he would get stuck on a word, I'd stop what I was doing and make a point to look at him in the eye so that he understood that he had my complete attention and didn't need to rush his speech. I never tell him to slow down because it just stresses him out. When I respond to him, I speak more slowly myself, and I also learned that interrupting him often increased the stuttering. He has improved greatly. Be patient with your child, it often goes away on it's own.

Anytime he/she starts to stutter, simply say stop! Now think about what you want to say, then tell me. Because I can't understand when your mouth is talking to fast for your brain to work. Make him/her slow down, Sometimes it's really that they have so much to tell us that they want to say it all at the same time and it comes out as a studder so our mouth doesn't know what to say first. This is why teaching him/her to stop and think about what he/she want's to tell you first is important. This will help him/her their whole life. Then when he/she is done saying what he/she wanted to tell you ask him/her if there was anything else they wanted to say about this issue.

Sometimes they do this for attention, but if you are waiting for them to think about what he/she want's to say and truly answering him/her before going back to what you where doing, they get that one on one attention that they needed, and when waiting don't let another child talk to you while they are thinking about what they wanted to say, because that takes the attention away from him/her, and it's still his/her turn to talk to you, so wait for him/her. You don't want him/her to get more flustered because now he/she forgot what they wanted to ask you in the first place, because someone else was talking about something else.
(The moment is his/hers, and he/she needs to know that you will wait for them to think for a moment).

After this he/she should stop rather quickly but if he/she doesn't, call your school district and ask them if they have some kind of help. If it's through your school district it should be free. Or they might know best where you can find help. Also talk to your Doctor. Good Luck with this. J.

We went through this with my daughter when she was three. I freaked out, of course. Our pediatrician reassured us that her brain was developing faster than her ability to communicate her thoughts. We waited it out and she is a totally fluent chatterbox at 6-1/2.

Try not to draw too much attention to it. Your child is at an important age for building self-confidence, and any discussion about something being "wrong" will stay with your child far longer than the original affliction. Give your child focused, loving attention, as mentioned by the other mama's, but don't talk about why. Just send love and relax!