Any speech/language or childcare professionals able to help me with this one please? Or just parents in general!

[twobabiesandapup]

Thought I would see if anyone could offer any advice on this, it’s not something I’m overly concerned about but just curious as to whether or not it’s a common thing.

My son is 20 months old and for a good few months now I’ve been teaching him phonics which he’s really enjoying and doing well with. I have phonics cards which I show him and this is an example of the exchange:

Me: what letter is this?
Son: W
Me: and W sounds like
Son: W w w w window, w w w w walking

He asks most mornings for his phonics cards so he and I do it regularly and it’s been really enjoyable, only now my partner and I have noticed he’s developed a bit of a stammer and we’re not sure if it’s linked. When he does the bouncy letter sounds in phonics he says the sound really loudly and pronounced, but with the stammering he says the last syllable of the word quite quietly, almost like an echo. It’s not bothering him at all and I don’t think he even realises, but he’ll say something like “ready for dinner” and then say quietly “ner ner ner”. It’s not every word but he’ll do it more for a couple of hours a day and then not the rest of the day.

Does this make any sense? I’ve tried to explain it as best as possible, I don’t know if his mind is thinking about phonics and he’s doing it subconsciously, or if it’s a normal developmental stage, or if I’m making it worse by doing the phonics! If anyone has any advice that would be amazing. Like I said he’s still incredibly happy within himself and it’s not frustrating him so his dad and I are obviously not drawing attention to it, but we are just curious to see if anyone else has experienced this

Little bump 🫣

Not a professional but maybe don't keep saying w w w just say it once.

If he keeps doing it I’d tell him it’s ok you did really well, got it right first time so you can stop now.

And this is why teaching synthetic phonics at 2 (!) is a bad idea.

Don’t bounce on the single letter sound. Don’t do phonic cards at all.

Play games, matching games, name games card based games by all means but leave the “teaching” out.

I wouldn’t even consider “teaching” phonics at such a young age.
If he’s interested by all means have some books, puzzles posters or tactile letters around. I wouldn’t be using flash cards at all.
I’d focus instead on just enjoying a range of books, repetitive and rhyming texts, songs and rhymes etc.
I once taught a child who tensed up as soon as I tried to share a book pointing out individual words saying “ I know the, I know and I know it” she couldn’t relax or enjoy a book at all.
I’d also be doing lots of messy and multisensory play to develop fine and gross motor skills.

Play with him
Chat to him
Let him jump in puddles and run around the park
Do some baking
Let him be not even two yet
Stop trying to hot house him, what’s the point?

Why do you think it’s a good idea to teach a one year old phonics?

Why f*ck phonetic up before age 2?

@TalulahJP thank you, I’ll give this a go

for everyone saying let him be two… I do let him be two and he does everything you’re saying I should do with him, and much much more. But he loves books, loves letters, loves words, loves learning. He asks for his phonics cards everyday, and it’s actually following a previous thread where I asked for suggestions on how to encourage him that phonics cards were suggested. My younger brother also started phonics and one and reading at 2 purely for the love of learning, and he’s starting computer science at Oxford. There is absolutely nothing wrong with encouraging learning if a child wishes to do it alongside all the fun stuff

God just read some more comments, forget I asked 😂 I’ll speak to an actual professional and ignore all these comments. My child is happy and thriving, I have no concerns about my parenting. Thanks!

We had the echo. Have a look at word final disfluency. My son did this, though his started as him whispering back whole sentences, a kind of echolalia.

The word final disfluency followed this, he echos the final syllable at the end of sentences. This has mostly stopped now.

Have a look at this to see if similar https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/media/avxl5lis/word-final-dysfluency-frequently-asked-questions.pdf

The key difference is my son was older, but he also loved letters, he spent most of his time listening to jolly phonics songs. Do you have any suspicions about autism, the letters might be a special interest which you are leaning into, so to everyone jumping on OP for doing phonics so early, for my son it was what he absolutely loved!

We have seen a speech and language therapist. Advice was always, if it doesn’t bother him, don’t mention it. Most children don’t notice they’re doing it.

I posted something similar a few years back. I’ll see whether I can find the thread.

To answer your question from a SaLT perspective, it’s very common for young children to go through a phase of stammering, as their language skills are developing. To quote the NHS stats, approximately 1 in 12 young children will experience a period(s) of stammering, and approximately 2 in 3 of those children won’t go on to stammer long-term. Your child is prime age for this to happen, particularly if his language skills are well developed for his age (which it sounds as though they are, if you feel he can cope with some phonics).

Speech and Language UK is a good source of information and guidance on what to do/what not to do/when to seek further support.

Your OP made me laugh so much! Kids are so cute. He will simply grow out of it - it’s not a real stammer, he’s just got interested in the sounds of the words and you have made a game of that by doing phonics daily.

I agree that some kids just pick things up naturally. I could sight-read by three, my daughter could recite all her nursery rhymes and Julia Donaldson books by 2 and a half and was reading before school - I certainly didn’t force her. As long as it’s a game and you don’t force it, there’s no problem.

On the other hand my ds had a bad speech delay and didn’t learn to read at all until school but now in Y2 he has totally caught up - I think it’s a bit like potty training, once they are ready to learn, they just want to learn and you can’t really hold them back from it whether that’s age 1 or age 6.

Here you go, there’s even an audio clip of my son further down if it still works.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4853602-any-speech-and-language-therapists-here-45-year-old-end-of-word-stuttering?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

The thing I would say is that your son is so young and kids do often stammer when young and going through development stages. I don’t think any professionals will look into it at such a young age.

Perhaps keep an eye out for signs of autism, the letter interest could be an early indicator, in hindsight it was for us.

At nearly three my friends son was reading out car number plates on the way to the shops etc as they walk past parked cars. He just loved sounds and numbers. He is still quite clever (but not outstanding) and a lovely child. So if your son likes saying things fine. Hes just having fun.

I understand what you mean op, my first was like this, pushed me to teach him. I was very young and didn't know about phonics (or heard the expression hot housing) but just drew pictures and wrote the word underneath it to keep him entertained or read things out that he pointed at or asked what it said, you only had to tell him something once and he remembered it. At 1 year old he would go around the supermarket sat in the trolley reading the signs over the aisles and shocked my mother by reading street signs at 20 months🤣 at 10 months before he could even walk he watched snooker and said the colour of the balls as they went down the holes 'blue gone'!

You don't need a professional just follow his lead and teach him what he wants to know but I'd stop stressing the first letter and just say the word.👍

Sorry but unless your ds is naturally very gifted , you're expecting way too much for his age. Phonics isn't usually taught to children before they turn 3

I’m quite old fashioned and think that some children simply don’t need phonics! (Wouldn’t dare say that at work though 🤣). The flash cards might just be too easy for him. Read to and let him read to you, doesn’t matter if it’s nonsense. Most of all have fun with it, and enjoy having a very able little boy.

And here you’ve revealed the real reason you are pushing phonics flashcards on a baby before they even turn 2 - not because it’s fun, or because your baby is enjoying it - but because your brother did it, and he’s going to Oxford. Why include that fact if you don’t believe: 1) early reading indicates ‘high’ intelligence (evidence shows it doesn’t), and 2) going to Oxford is a barometer of success (it isn’t).

You included that fact because it is what is driving you to hothouse your very young toddler. At least own your motivations, instead of pretending your poor 20 month old actually thinks the ridiculous exchange you quoted in your first post is actually fun for him