Stuttering - Fort Worth,TX

The best thing you can do is to ignore it, and it will just go away on it's own. If you comment to her about it, it will just bring her attention to it, and it will delay it and make it worse. I was told this advice by my Mom who was a teacher when my very above average son started stuttering around two or three. It went away on it's own in less then 6 months. This is very normal. The people who stutter as adults are the ones who were severely scolded for this as children.

My older son is 17 1/2 and when he was younger he would stutter quite a bit especially when he was nervous and excited but as he grew older it almost stopped completely. He still does from time to time on occassion, main when he is excited and nervous.

Patience, talk to her calmly.
Good luck and hope this helps.
M.

My daughter went through a stuttering phase around three years old. It passed, but I think it was due to her little brain going faster than she could speak. At this age, they are reallylearning a lot about the world around them and themselves. they start to make up stories and have wild imaginations. I just think sometimes that their mouths can';t go a s fast as their brains. But, if you think it is more than this- get her tested. Just call your local elementary school and ask for a speech evaluation. It is free and if she needs services, they will provide them to you for free.

My daughter did that also. She had amazing and very clear speech for an almost 3 year old. I called a speech therapist and she told me that it is very normal because they are aquiring so many new words at a time that they have trouble processing it all at once. She did ask me questions if she was blinking hard when she was stuttering and my daughter wasn't.

My 3 yr. old did this too. I took her for speech evaluation & was told she was not only fine, but above avg. It turned out she was bored & watching the little ones @ daycare she thought she would do what they were doing to get attention. It maybe a number of things; but DON'T panic. Speek slowly to her & remind her to take her time.

I know in Lewisville ISD they will screen/test and have your daughter go to speech for free at the nearest elem school. Check out your local elementary school and inquire at their office and they an let you know what your options are.

My daughter had the same problem around 2 1/2 to 3, and she was also very advanced all along with her talking, so we were surprised when it started. But my husband is a principal at an elementary school, so he asked the speech teacher there about it, and she said the same thing as some of the others said--that it is just a developmental thing that happens sometimes, and it's usually too early to tell at this point.

In my daughter's case, it really was that she was thinking faster than she could get her words out, and we would just try to get her to slow down, and she grew out of it after a few months. So I would not be too concerned just yet. You could have her see someone at one of the local elementary schools, because as someone said, they are required and do provide early intervention services for speech problems. But I'm guessing they'll say it is either too early to tell, or it does look to be just a developmental issue at this point. As someone else said, I was told by our pedi that if she was getting stuck on one syllable, like b-, b-, b-, book, that might be a stuttering issue, but if it was whole words, like she would say, "I want, want, want, want, to go to the park"--that was more about not being able to talk as fast as she was thinking.

Hope that helps. It would never hurt to call your pedi and see what he/she says.

Hi G.,

I am a speech-language pathologist, and have worked with many children, teens, and adults whom stutter.

Although many children go through a period of disfluency, as their vocabularies grow, there are those children who truly do stutter. Unlike the Hollywood images of people who stutter, there is no common characteristics. In fact, if you have ever been in a room of people who stutter (support groups, conventions, etc.) you will find some great characters - yet everyone is different - just as the rest of society. So nervousness, lack of confidence, and other unflattering characteristics are not part of the cause of this speech disorder.

All that being said - it is not easy to tell which children will move through this type of stuttering, and which will not. If you have a history of stuttering in your family, research shows your child might be one of those children that does not just pass through this period of disfluency. I would suggest calling a speech-language pathologist, with experience in working with people who stutter. The speech-language pathologist will either put your mind at ease and offer you some tips (and likely suggest you check back with her in a few months), or develop a plan to help your child. Every bit of research promotes early interevention. A visit to the speech-language pathologist is a win-win situation for you and your child.

You are fortunate to live in Fort Worth. The TCU clinic is a wonderful facility - led by Lynn Flahive. Since it is a university, the price should be reasonable - and there should be many opportunities for various programs.

I am in Frisco, but feel free to contact me if you should have any questions. I think you would be happy with the services you would receive from TCU.

The best thing you could do for your child is trust your gut. The "wait and see" path will probably only make you sick to your gut -- and sicker, if you should wait a year and learn that you should have started therapy sooner (now).

I don't mean to sound stern, but I have also been a professional member of the National Stuttering Association, and have heard many adults talk about the choices their parents made (including avoiding therapy/denial for as long as possible), and how those parental choices effected them.

Your daughter is fortunate to have a mother who is concerned and eager to help her.

Best of luck to you and your daughter,
S. Ambers, M.S., CCC-SLP

I suggest you get her evaluated by a speech therapist. My middle daughter stuttered at about 2 1/2 years old. I was pretty sure it was just because her brain and mouth weren't in sync (she was thinking things quicker than she could speak it), but decided to get her evaluated so that if it was something more we could work on early intervention. Well, it turns out my original assumption was correct. The therapist said her speech abilities were kicking into high gear and that it would self correct which it did. But I was glad to have an expert validate my thinking which do so much to alleviate my concern.

I would say the same as most of the others. My son started doing that when he was 2 1/2 or so (he is also very advanced in speech) and he did grow out of it (he's 4 now). I would mention it to your doctor at the next check-up. Maybe he/she can give you a timeline that if she's still stuttering that you may want to get her checked out by a specialist. At this age though it's completely normal and she should just grow out of it. Good luck!

My daughter at age 3 started too. I had her evaluated by the district and she is now 7 and just fine. Stuttering can be caused by many different factors. One is always trying to "rush". The speech teacher told me to slow down even when I have 3 kids and am always rushing. Also is the brain is going faster than her mouth can process.

Being tested in the district that you are in is free. Go ahead and have her tested-it will give you peace of mind. Also if she is in need of some type of theropy the district provides it for you.

My son is 3 and my daughter is 4 and they have both done this also. It comes in phases I've noticed. When they have learned so many new words and have so much to say it's like the speech center of the brain is running around like crazy and their little mouths just can't keep up.
I just speak to the calmly trying not to sound frustrated and ask them to stop, think about what they want to say, and then speak. It really helps over time.

Been there. My daughter started stuttering when she started school. She went to the speech instructor and they cleared it up. The main things I remember in our helping her was to tell her to "Stop. Think about what you are going to say." This seemed to help her immensely.

She, too, is one to be constantly going and I think her brain got ahead of her talking. Although, now as an adult she still talks a mile a minute. I have to say now, "Slow down...I can't understand you!!"

Hang in there. It will get better!!

Hi G.,
I know it breaks your heart to hear your daughter stutter. My daughter did this when she was three. I knew the cause, though. It was emotional stress. Her father left us, and that's when it started.
Seven weeks later, when we reconciled, the stuttering stopped.
If your daughter has experienced any emotional stress or trauma, that could be the cause.
I wish I had more to offer, but that was my direct experience. It definitely hurt me more than anything else to see what was happening to her. At the time, I thought I hid my own pain very well, but I guess she still picked up on it.
I never brought her attention to her own stuttering but gave her lots of extra attention and hugs.
Leanne

Some people would say all kids go through some kind of stammering due to their growing vocabulary or self-esteem issues. However, some just stutter and don't grow out of it. You could take the wait and see approach, but if you are like me, a worrier, I'd rather take her to a speech pathologist and find out for sure. I'd rather go and have them tell me nothing is wrong than wait and there be something.

Hello there G.,

This post touches me. Infact for a long time I could not talk about this without crying. My beautiful 6 year old daughter started stuttering at about 3 years old. She still does.
We now live in Denmark so they had evaluations done and this is what we were told. It has NOTHING to do with speaking too fast or being bored. It has nothing to do with anxeity etc. It is not known why people stutter but it happens. Have you noticed that they do not stutter when they sing?
My daughter when to what we call a stuttering group. This group was not to teach them how not to stutter. It was to teach them how to handle the fact that they stutter. It was the best thing ever.
the fear is that children who stutter will shy away from talking since others will interrupt them or finish their words for them. Friends might find it puzzling and even tease them. Well my daughter has been taught that when she needs to say something. She tells the others okay now stop talking. It is my turn. Then she talks. She tells others not to interrupt her. We also have learnt not to interrupt and finish her words. That has given her lots of confidence. she tells new friends about her stuttering and will answer any questions they have. that clears the way and curiousity in other kids. the interesting thing is that she stutters sometimes and then goes for weeks or even months without stuttering.
the biggest message I want to give you is this 20 percent of all children stutter. Less than 1 percent of all adults stutter. So this will probably fade away before you know it.
Secondly and most importantly and a lesson I really had to drill into my own head. Some poeople's children are deaf, some are blind, some are retarded. Some have autism. some cannot walk and some cannot even hold their babies because the did not survive 3 years old. Yours my dear. Only as a stutter. Let your hair down and do not be sad. Be glad.
you still have a princess.
feel free to send me a mail if you need some support. It took me some time to get to this point.

i don't know if this will help, get her checked by a speech therapist. also i am dyslexic and when at times throughout my life i have stuttered when i am extremely nervous about something or when i've had too much sugar. i know this sounds strange but i was never a bad stutter but it was annoying to me. occasionally when i'm speaking and the word i'm trying to say is difficult i will stutter to get it out. think and see if anything or anyone major in her life has dramatically changed.

sahm to a 10 year old boy who spent 3 years in speech therapy and a 5 year old boy who spent 8 months in speech therapy, but should have stayed in for a year. the school let him out i'm sure to make room for other students. W. d.

Hi,

Fort Worth ISD has a program that allows you to take your child down to the local elementary and say, "My child needs to be evaluated by a speech therapist." Your child can be evaluated, and if speech therapy is needed the speech therapist at that school will give your child speech therapy for free. The director of a Mother's Day Out recommended this approach for my son. He has been going to speech therapy for 30 minutes of therapy once a week for free during the school year since he was 3 1/2. I only wish I had taken him earlier, right when he turned three. My son is doing very well. He may not need speech therapy for much longer, and we got the therapy he needed before school started. (As far as I know, he's never been teased about "talking funny.") I know our taxes are paying for this "free service," but what a God-send! There are other perks as well. Since we took my son to the school's therapy program, transitioning to kindergarten was so much smoother for us. He already felt like it was his "big boy school."

I agree with the others that your child may not need speech therapy. This could be a temporary issue. However, what peace of mind and "no regrets" you will have to get it checked out. If you decide to go down in person or call the local elementary's speech therapist, that person will probably recommend that you call the Child Find Organization. This is the organization that does the initial interview to see if there is a need for services and places the child in the proper program. I called the director of Child Find, Virginia McCook, at ###-###-####. Even if the process has changed, the people at this number should be able to give you names and numbers of people who can help to get the process going. It takes a long time. I remember that they had 60 days to place him in a program after the inital interview, and then the speech therapist had 30 days to test my son and recommend a specific program. I wish I had started the whole process sooner, especially since there is no therapy during the summers. It has been an awesome program for us, and our speech therapist is a real sweetheart!

Hope this helps!
Holly

I don't know a lot about stuttering, but mainly don't make a deal out of it or notice" it too much, and have her say a ryme or sing to you if she is having a lot of trouble. I've heard that if they sing, for some reason they can say all the words without stuttering. As for when she gets older if she still does it, I guess you would need research. but the ryme and singing I've heard helps for sure. I know she can't go to school and sing to everyone, so of course that isn't what I mean.

Personally I think I would talk to her doctor about something like that for sure. Hope it gets better.

G.,
My 3-yr old is the same way. When we were at the pediatrician's office for his 3-yr check-up, the doctor noticed it and said not to worry because it was entire words he kept repeating and not individual letters like "T" "S" "D". He said it is because he's thinking faster than he can speak, knows what he wants to say but is so excited he can't get the words out fast enough. Told us to remind Caleb to slow down and take his time. He said that if he is still doing it in a couple of years then have him evaluated, but not to worry now as a lot of toddlers/pre-schoolers have this problem and grow out of it. He said that if Caleb started stuttering over individual letters, then have him evaluated sooner.

My daughter started doing this around 2 years old. When she saaid Momma it was M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-omma. Lots of words were like this. She grew out of it. Good luck!

My son did that too. He started talking like crazy, then went through a stuttering period of about 4-5 months. Most people said his thinking was ahead of what he could get out of his mouth. He talks fine now. We just let him stutter and get it out, and did not get frustrated.