'I can't talk!'

[DueyCheatemAndHow]

DD will be 3 in October. Her language is and has always been very very good - people have always commented on it - she uses the word perpendicular correctly, for example.

Recently she has been struggling to come out with sentences. Like she stutters 'I... I.... i' and then in the past few days says 'I can't talk!' and gets really upset.

We are a noisy household. Her 4 year old brother has suspected neurodivergencies and doesn't shut up, so it may just be the pressure of feeling like she has to speak quickly.

Should I be concerned and if so who do I approach?

Give her space to speak and don't fill the words in or try and guess what she says. Support her by asking everyone else around her to do the same and to be patient with her.

It wouldn't do you any harm to speak to the health visitor or Dr to get some advice to rule anything else out.

Thanks

Its quite common at that age, the brain and mouth are trying to keep up with one another!

Brain working faster than her mouth, lots of little ones go through this.

My child was three when she started stammering. I booked a some sessions In with a speech therapist who gave some good pointers. Like, let her finish her sentences, don't try to finish it for her. Speech therapist, said she'd either grow out of it or won't, it's too early to tell.

Anyway, she's almost 8 & has grown out of it. Like PP said, it's the brain and mouth trying to catch up with one another.

Younger than your DD but DS had about a six month period with a slight stammer, more pronounced when tired or excited. Health visitor said his speech and thinking/analysis was quite advanced for his age and it was essentially his mouth struggling to keep up with his brain, which was going at 100 miles an hour. She took a watch and wait approach and said if it's still an issue in six months we'll look at a SALT referral. It was completely gone by then.
I agree with PP try not to rush her, even if she's telling you something incredibly convoluted about the Mariana trench while you're trying to get her out of the door (personal experience....) , don't correct the stammer just reflect what she's said to make sure she knows you've understood her and if brother interrupts her etc so she feels like she has to talk really fast to get a word in, deal with the way his behaviour is having an impact.

Oh this is reassuring, thanks!