Stuttering - Chicago,IL

M.,
My now 5 year old son did the same thing. It freaked me out! It lasted for about 2 weeks and I even took him to pediatrician. My Ped. totally said that it was normal...their brains are working faster than their mouth. It is such a learning time for them that it causes them to stutter. I was so relieved when he quit doing it. It stopped as quick as it started. Hang in there!

Hello, I know it's very alarming and disturbing, but he should grow out it. My daughter did the same thing and it really bugged me. Until I heard of other kids doing the same thing and she eventually grew out of it too. She did start it again at around 3, but only for a short time. She was learning way too much too quickly and couldn't process all of it. Just ignore it and wait it out. I would wait until he is 3 or so and then have him evaluated. Even now, they tell me I should have my daughter in speech therapy for a few words she doesn't say correctly, but I believe she is just young and will eventually learn. Time is the best medicine sometimes.

Hi M.,

I know what you are going through because this happens to my son every once in awhile. My son does have speech issues, and does see a therapist. Whenever we go through a period of stuttering, I add B-complex on top of the multi-vitamin he takes each day. After learning this could help, I tried it right away and the stuttering bout didn't last nearly as long as it had in the past. I use Shaklees Children's Ocean Wonders and Shaklees B-Complex. Shaklees vitamins are all natural and come from organic fruits and vegetables, and do not contain any artficial ingredients. Please contact me if you would like to purchase some and I can help you out. Hopefully this is just a stage of disfluency that children typically go through when their little brains learn more than there mouths can portray. You are definitely doing the right thing by not making a big deal about it, that's exactly what I was told to do, so good for you for doing that right away. Let me know if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help.

Take care,
N. B

Hi M.,
I feel so sorry for your little one. This might just be a phase or a recent upset. I'd wait a bit before contacting a speech therapist. My son stuttered and stooped for awhile but it stopped within a few days. Some kids acting mean reduced his confidence level but I set up some nice play dates and got him involved in some summer activities and his stuttering stopped and posture improved quickly. You are doing the right thing to be patient with his speech in the meantime.

Hi M.

My daughter did this for awhile, too. All of the sudden and then stopped all of the sudden. I took her to the pediatrician and after he ruled out any 'tramatic incidents'that I could recall - which there were none, he said that her brain is just moving faster than her lips. She has a lot that she wants to say and her mounth is just not keeping up. So because she was my first that wasn't good enough for me so I took her and had her evaluated for speach, and she did not qualify as she tested exactly like she should for a child her age. I would still check with the pediatrician, but relax, he is probably fine.

My daughter also started doing this at 2.5 and the hardest thing to hear is it is a phase that they will outgrow because all you want to do is help them with it right away.

We waited and when she was still doing this at 4 1/2 we finally were able to have her evaluated by a speech therapist. She tested well above age level for everything and the stuttering, it turns out is because she was thinking way faster than she could get her words out.

The reason they don't want you to finish the sentances and/or tell them to slow down when they are so young is because they are still building their vocabulary and it could stunt them if you do this. After 4 years old you can tell them to slow down, take a breath, and then continue. This has worked wonders for my daughter who did not end up needing therapy, and her stuttering only happens once in a blue moon now.

It may just be a phase, sojust listen for it and track how many times it happens. If he is still doing it in a year, talk to your doctor about a referal for speech therapy.

Hi M.,

I would get on it right away. As the last response said, it takes time to get things going. If you call your pediatrician and get an appt set up, you will likely wait about a month for a therapist. If in the meantime, if he gets back to himself you could cancel but with these things, the sonner it gets dealt with, the better. My friends son had some speech issues and the therapist came out to the house. It's a state program available to everyone. Good luck with this and try not to let it get to either of you. It may just be a short time thing and even if it is an issue, you can get him help.

A good physical-based therapy for a variety of speech problems is to simply take a deep breath and then speak while letting the air push its way out of your lungs. Your son may be old enough to do this if you model it for him. When he starts to have trouble just say, "Ok, take a deep breath." Then, take a deep breath yourself and say "Ok, what were you telling me," as you breathe out. Good luck.

M.,
I would first speak to your pediatrician to see what is recommended. If speech is needed you can seek private therapy in which you'd want to make sure you find an in-network provider and/or you can get help from the state through their Early Intervention (EI) program. The issue with EI is they move VERY slowly in getting the evaluation and therapy started. Good Luck!
Not sure where you live, so here is the link with the different phone numbers to contact the appropriate EI office.
http://www.wiu.edu/ProviderConnections/links/CFCList.html

This is most likely a phase. Many children go through a phase of natural dysfluency when they are around that age. If it does not fade away within the next 6 mos. or so you might want to think about getting him evaluated but my guess is is that he will be just fine. Just keep being patient - that's the best thing you can do!

Don't be alarmed just yet. My son at age 2 started stuttering and I was very alarmed by it because from day 1 he has been very advanced for his age. I started asking around and finally every one including his pediatrician said when he starts stuttering tell him politely to slow down. What was happening was his brain was working faster than is little mouth could spit out the words. By age 3 it has gone away for the most part. Every now and again at age 3 1/2 I still tell him too slow down but he gets very excited about things. Give it some time and it may get better. Good luck!!!

Hey M.- I am actually a speech therapist, so hopefully this will help. Just watch him. It is very common in children at this age to start to stutter. Like other peolpe have stated, the child's language development is so fast at this age, they are trying to get all of their thoughts out but their motor planning to connect their mouths do not keep up. It sometimes seems more common in boys, but not to say this does not happen with girls too. Think of it this way, children should have roughly 5 words at age 1 and then roughly 50 words by 18 months. At age two they should have around 200 words and at two and a half they should have over 2,000 words. The language spurt is amazing. watch him and stay really calm with him when this happens. It is ok to talk about it with him and say "I know this is hard, let's take a deep breath and start slowly." This helps with the frustration factor too. If you do not see a significant change in the next couple of months (3-6), then it might be time to seek help. If you have any other concerns about his speech then you might want to seek help sooner. Hope this helps and feel free to ask me any further questions if you have them!! Good Luck!!
S.