Anxious 3 year old? Repetitive speech??

[uhoh1973]

DC2 has just turned 3. He is outgoing and happy. Recently he has become more clingy when I drop him off at nursery and today it took me 15mins to get away and in the end the girl had to drag him off me :-(.

His vocabulary is very good (he has DC1 who is very eloquent to learn from). In the last week I have noticed that if he is rushing himself / anxious he is struggling to speak fluently. He is repeating the same word and struggling to find the next word. If DC1 interrupts him he shouts 'I am trying to speak!'.

DH had a very bed speech impediment as a child and right into his mid 20s. He has improved in the last 5 years but sometimes still finds speaking on the phone difficult. DC1 was born with a condition that included the possibility of speech problems but has been cleared as 'ok'. Given my husband's struggles this was a huge relief (especially for my husband).

So the question is for any speech therapists out there; is this kind of repetition common for small children (esp boys?). DH says it is. Should I do anything about it or just encourage him to take his time, not interrupt etc?? I am starting to get anxious myself!!

[uhoh1973]

This has got dramatically worse today and by the end of today he could not get a whole sentence out in 1 go. This is totally out of character and totally different to his speech only a week ago!! Argg!