2 year old DS seems to be stuttering. Just a phase?

[BlueyDragon]

Well, that's it really. DS, 25 months, started talking early and has a good vocabulary. Just in the last two weeks he's started stuttering on the first syllables of some words. It's not all words and it's not consistent, so a word that he's just got stuck on doesn't cause a problem in the next sentence. It's worse if he's tired or wound up.

My gut instinct is that his brain is working faster than his mouth, so he gets stuck, and that this is a passing phase so there's no need to try and correct him, for example. Anyone else have any advice, or experience of this?

Yep. Bang on.
V normal.

DD started stuttering when she was nearer 3. Advice we had at the time was not to draw attention to it, don't finish her sentences (or let others do it), stop what you are going and get down to her level so that she knows you are listening and just wait for her to finish what she is saying. We found also putting a hand on her back on stomach helped calm her enough to get words out. It got quite bad but we stuck to this advice and it did pass. Our 27month old DS has just started to stutter now (though nowhere near as bad) so will apply same approach. I'm sure it will pass. BTW I was advised that 3-6 months was not a long time for them to have a stutter so don't be disappointed if it doesn't go away quickly

Hello, my DS2 does the same and has been seeing a speech therapist (he's nearly four and this has been going on a long time.)

All the advice we've had is the same as Trouble ^ says - and we've lately been keeping a daily score of his speech. We're finding that it currently seems to be getting better and is barely there most days, but if he's tired, or we go off routine at the holidays it can flair up. Am quite hopeful it will go before he starts school in September though, I hate the thought that anyone might take the mickey out of him as he's going to be so young to be starting school as it is and I don't want him to find it harder than he has to.

Your DS is still very young, so keep an eye on it, and if you're still concerned in a year or so maybe get a referral. But try not to worry - DS's was really quite bad for a while and he started trying to overcompensate by almost shouting/screaming the first syllable of a word and we were really worried, but it's hopefully just a temporary thing...

Thank you all. I shall go with my instincts and be patient.

Hi Bluey :) DD has recently started doing something similar. She'll start a sentence with "I-I-I-I-I.." or "You-you-you-you-you", but I just assumed she was getting her head round what she wanted to say iyswim. Her speech is very good, she can speak in 5 or 6 word sentences easily, but she just gets stuck on the first word sometimes. I suppose if it persists I might get it checked out, but I'm not overly worried now. Does that sound similar to what your DS is doing?

Sounds identical, MissP, and thank you for the post. I'm not worried, exactly, more trying to find out if it's worth getting early assistance or it's normal. DD also talked early (and hasn't stopped since) but never went through this phase so it's all a bit new to me!

yes, very normal. I have in front of me a sheet from DD2's SALT, which states that "children will sometimes sound as if they are stammering, trying to share all of their ideas before their language skills are ready. Thsi is perfectly normal...." ( aged 2-3 years)

I'm really glad I read this. My DD (27mo) has just started the you-you-you thing in the last few weeks and I was a bit concerned about it. Her speech is also very good, which seems to be a common factor.