Stuttering?

[Brooke]

Does anyone have a child who stutters?
Did your child stutter at age 2 but grow out of it?
Is there anyone else in your family who stutters?

Over the past 2 days, Daniel has started stuttering constantly. Every phrase starts with a stutter. Examples -

"Me do it" is now "me-me-me-me-me do it!"
"Fire guy" (his name for the disney movie Sky High) is "fi-fi-fire-fi-fire guy"
"I want one" is "I-I-I-I-I-I want one"
You get the idea.

I read online that it's normal for kids age 2-5 to stutter. I'm hoping it's just because his brain is working faster than his mouth or something. It worries me because of Daniel's history of speech delay and because it happened suddenly, almost overnight.

Also, Darren stutters occasionally, usually when he's talking too fast. Darren's stutter is not really noticable but it does mean Daniel has a family history.

[TtownAnne]

Brooke, I can't find it right now in my journals but Caroline started stuttering suddenly around age 2 or 2.5 with no history at all of speech problems in our families. My pediatrician said that not only can it be caused by the "brain outrunning the mouth" thing but also as a clue to an upcoming language explosion because their brain is frantically searching around for the right word. As quickly as Caroline started stuttering, she stopped again and hasn't done it since.

[Cami]

Aubrey has had two or three periods where she stuttered for a couple of months at a time. I remember clearly one time was January-ish 2006 so she would have been almost 3. There was one period before that, maybe May 2005 when she'd just turned 2 (I remember around the time of a speech evaluation). I'm thinking there was a time last year when she stuttered too.

I was told that it was around a big change in her language skills and it would work itself out. Each time I got really worried because it seemed like a really bad stutter to me but each time it did stop. Now it's been a while... maybe a year... and she's about to turn five. When I think back, it does seem like she has grown past it.

[Connie1222]

Patrick is starting to stutter just a little bit right now, not that noticeable except when he tries to sing a song. ITA with everyone it seems to be his brain being faster than his mouth, I can totally see that when he is trying to sing a song all the way through. He is still getting speech, so I want to mention it to his ST.

[Lynn]

Aaron's a stutter-er. :nod: He does it mostly when he's really excited. His pediatrician told me to tell him "Say it again; this time nice and slow and think about what you're wanting to say". Sometimes it works and others it doesn't. I'm not too worried about it quite yet since it's not a consistent thing. If it continues into Kindergarten next year then we will most certainly address it then. :nod:

[Jillian]

Janell stuttered for awhile and then outgrew it, she would start stuttering again before a huge explosion in skills, not necesarrily verbal skills though. Our ped said if she didn't notice it don't point it out to her.

[Alyssa]

Just found this thread, and it makes me feels loads better. In the past 3 or so weeks, my mom and I have noticed Seamus stuttering. It's not consistent and it's not daily. I've chalked it up to his brain being faster than his mouth, as he's gotten much more verbal. I hope that it's isolated like most of you have found. :crossfing

[debstar]

Yes, Abbey started stuttering quite significantly at around 2 & 1/2. She literally fell asleep in the car one afternoon & woke up stuttering. I was really concerned & contacted a speech pathologist immediatley. As others have said it is quite common at this age & basically the brain trying to work quicker than the mouth does. The speech path didn't want to see her unless it lasted for more than 3 months. I think it was bad for about a month & really hard to listen to (& ignore), which we were told to do. Then it gradually improved & now only very occasionally appears when she is super tired.

Just make sure other kids (or family etc.) don't comment on it. We made sure to inform anyone new we were going to see, so no one commented in front of Abbey. She never seemed to be aware or bothered by it, but it was really hard to listen to.

[Connie1222]

Alyssa, I'm sure that's what it is. I posted on April 17th and Patrick is not stuttering anymore. His speech has come so far! :hug99:

[Karri]

I hope so, Alyssa (and I am sure it is).

Elliott always goes through stuttering stages whenever his vocabulary is about to explode...every few months. Norah's SLP advised me to just remind him to slow down and think. It really helps.
Now Norah recently started stuttering. The SLP and I talked about it and for some reason, we've noticed that it only happens when she is in an excited state and it only happens w/ "w" words (when, what, where). Very weird, but she assured me that I shouldn't be too worrried and like Elliott, I should just encourage her to slow down and think about what she wants to say.

[~Jenn]

Teagan is a stutterer as well. She has been for awhile, actually...maybe since she was 3? It's nowhere near as frequent as it used to be (actually, I only noticed it popping up again recently a month or so ago), and like many, it's more pronounced when she's excited, or REALLY wants to say something! :lol: If it's really bad, we will simply tell her to slow down, or to start over, and it gets her focused on what she's trying to say.