The way my almost 5 year old speaks sometimes - can I help ?

[bijet]

I don't think there's a larger speech issue going on but it's just how she speaks sometimes, especially when she's on the spot, that I find a bit concerning.

Sometimes it's fine and what she's saying makes perfect sense, other times, when you ask her to explain something she wants to do or something that happened, it doesn't make much sense.

Nothing has been flagged by her school, so I think she's fine. It's almost like she gets stage fright sometimes.

She also stutters at the beginning of sentences when she's trying to explain something a bit more complex. When she's trying to explain something, the way she does it, is all jumbled up sometimes.

I can't think of a specific sentence right now but I will have a think about it.

She's doing well in reception, with phonics etc and has started reading.

Her school also have this thing where they assessed their language skills and hers were fine.

But sometimes when I see other kids when they're recalling something or explaining something - they just seem much more articulate.

She has her moments of being articulate too, but often what she's saying is a bit all over the place, with some stuttering.

It may be that her brain is racing ahead and her words can't quite keep up. But I'm no speech therapist and you should seek a referral if you're still worried in - say - six months time. If this is new behaviour and she was previously fine, then check with your GP sooner rather than later.

I think she stutters quite a bit at the moment.

She'll do stuff like ' because because because I wants to go outside '

' do you want do you want do you want to come '

At the start of sentences she says the first word 3 times a lot.

DD did this at various stages through early childhood, when first learning to talk and when first starting school.

It was like her brain was moving faster than her mouth and so she'd get stuck and stutter or repeat.

My DS is very articulate and can explain things really well but he does the repeated few words thing sometimes when he is excited to tell something and it’s like he hasn’t thought through what he wants to say.

It sounds like her brain is going 100mph and her speech can't catch up.
I find that when my daughter is very excited etc it comes out.

Sometimes I am like this....I just can't get my words out but my brain is going very fast!

Ds is in year 1 and has been doing this since reception year, it's called disfluency I think? He repeats the same few words from the start of the sentence a few times before he can finish. It's not all the time, and he'll go days without doing it. It seems to be when he's excited or worried. I spoke to his teacher and researched it, I think it's a not unusual development thing. We just wait until he gets there. His speech is otherwise fine and he's ahead on phonics/writing etc.

Edit to add example: 'Today I, today I did, today I did, today I, today I did, today I did a whole wordsearch by myself faster than anyone else!'

She sounds exactly like my son who is also 5. He was quite late in talking so I suspect he's towards the bottom of average but nobody at school has ever mentioned it. I just try and give him time and space. He has the same issue with his writing as well so I think it's just one of those things they'll grow into.