Stuttering in Toddlers

Updated on April 08, 2007
A.N. asks from Telford, PA
6 answers

Hello,

We've noticed that our 2.5 year old daughter has occasionally been stuttering lately. This usually happens when she is asking a question, and she repeats the same few words several times before finishing the sentence.

I know that this can occur in children this age when their minds work faster than their mouths. However, I am a little bit concerned because my husband speaks very quickly and does stutter when he is talking about something with excitement. He can control this (at work, for example), but did have speech therapy as a child for talking too fast, stuttering, and not pronouncing R's properly (this was outgrown). Our daughter was an early talker and she has a terrific vocabulary. This is the first speech concern we've had.

I know very little about speech development and just wanted to reach out to some other moms who might know more. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

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M.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

My son will be 4 next month and he also tends to stutter. He started when he was about 2.5 and it went away for awhile but has recently come back. Usually stuttering clears up on its own by age 5. Just let her complete her sentence. Do not finish it for her, or tell her to slow down or to repeat herself. I am not super worried about my sons stuttering but I am going to mention it at his 4 yr appt. You can search stuttering online if you would like to find out more about it.

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S.J.

answers from Philadelphia on

This is very normal for this age, because of like you said, their minds are working faster than their mouths so they just keep repeating that one word until they think of the next. My daughter went through the same thing when she was 3 and I was concerned because her father and I had just separated and I thought it was due to stress or whatever. I spoke to a few speech pathologists and they all said that it is completely normal and they don't really worry about it until the child is between 4-5 years old. If you are really concerned about it though because of your husband I would just bring it up to your daughter's pediatrician and see what they say.

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C.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

i wouldn't worry yet but if you are still concern when she turns three contact your school district in writing and they will evaluate her speech and if need be give her thearpy for free..but she has to be three.. She may be learning to speak that way from your husband if he does it she may just be coping him thinking that is how you say certain things.

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S.L.

answers from Philadelphia on

my son was the same we have worked with him he had trouble pronounceing words and it frustrated him so he would tend to repeat himself but he out grew it his pre-school teacher kept asking me if we had considered speech thearpy for him but his speech patterns have cleared up alot since his third year so I'm not to worried some letters he still has trouble with but most of that has even leasond so you dont notice it as bad now that he's learning letter sounds at pre-school so his speech has cleared quit considerably I would not worry to much about it until she is ready to go to kindergarden if she is still doing it then she may have to go to speech therapy try getting her to slow down when she speaks my son's pre-school teacher told me to get one of those hand held mirrors and have him look at himself in the mirror when he says words so he can see how he is forming his words then show him by saying the word your working with slowly then have him say it the same way you did by forming his mouth the way you did I never tried it but it might help you

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J.M.

answers from Allentown on

I just spoke with a coworker who is a speech therapist to answer a similiar question for a freind.
She said it is common for 2-3 year olds to go through stuttering spurts. And not to be too concerned unless there is a history of stuttering within the mother (genetic link), if the stuttering has pitch rises, & if the actual stutter is lasting longer than 2 seconds.
If you are really concerned talk to her ped. & he/she can recommend what services are available to have her evaluated (a 25% delay- or more is needed to get any services). There are birth to 3 services that offer speech therapy, after that it is your county through the intermediate unit.

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B.B.

answers from Philadelphia on

My oldest was an early talker too. She would often get caught on a word when she was thinking hard about what she wanted to say. Many times she would say, " I I I I I ..." and I would have to help her move onto the next word by interupting her. This went on for a while but she grew out of it.

If you are really concerned, you can always have her evaluated for Early Intervention Speech Therapy. The therapist could determine whether or not it is a problem that needs to be addressed or if she will just grow out of it. It depends on the county you live in as to who would do the evaluation. Your doctor should be able to give you some direction to get you started.
Good Luck!

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