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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Stammering - Can anyone help us???

13 replies

babylily · 08/05/2006 13:57

My dd is 3 next month and has been developing a stammer over the past 3 months. It's now at the stage where she can often struggle to get a sentence out - she stutters over the beginning of every word, repeating the first sound ten or so times before she manages to get the word out.
I have no idea who on earth we should contact about something about this. I'd like her to see a speech therapist (my brother had speech problems as a child which were resolved with exercises so I know they can work wonders), does anyone know how we go about getting a referral? Is it through the GP?

My dd was previously a very articulate and fluent speaker and this is really knocking her confidence. When she is playing, she talks and sings perfectly, but when talking to us or other people just loses it and I'm worried of handling it incorrectly.
Our health visitor is not willing to even see us (she told us they have to concentrate on the teen mums in our area and don't have the resources to deal with 'normal' families.

I know it's not a huge thing, but I'm really stressed about this.
babylily

OP posts:

fairyjay · 08/05/2006 14:01

Babylily
My dd had the same problem, and as dh stammered as a child, I was very worried.
I spoke to the speech therapist who my ds was seeing at the time, and she said that this can happen as they develop, where essentially they are wanting to say things more quickly than they can. It probably lasted for several months.
I now have a nearly 13 y.o. dd, who I wish would just be quiet occasionally.
Try not to worry, and from memory, I think we were told just to be patient as she tried to speak, as that would take some of the pressure off.

pinkdolly · 08/05/2006 14:37

Hi Babylily,

My DD1 will be 4 next month. She started stammering about a year ok, just a bit at first and then it got worse. DH used to stammer until he was about 5. We decided to try and ignore it, not to draw attention to it and hope it would go away on its own. Which, after a few motnhs, it did.

However, now it seems to have returned. I would say that it is a bit worse then before. I'm not sure what's triggered it but sometimes it can be really bad. And she seems to get louder as she stammers, like she's trying to shout her words out.

For now, i'm sticking to the same theory I had before. That if I ignore it, it will just go away. Only time will tell if it will.

My advice to you would be, not to worry about. Give her a couple of months and see how she goes. I am sure she will be fine.

BTW- I think it's disgusting that the HV's wont see you. I have had 2 recent calls from my HV. One a week after dd fell and banged her head, the other after she fell and cut her hand. Both time they were just ringing up to see how she was. Which I thought was lovely.

Keep us posted on how she goes.

pinkdolly · 08/05/2006 14:38

Sorry that should have read a year ago, bout same time as your dd.

Original poster

babylily · 08/05/2006 14:44

fairyjay - thank you for the speedy reply. I'll leave it a bit longer and see what happens. I've been trying to encourage her, when she gets stuck with a word to stop and start again slowly - just wasn't sure if by drawing attention to it I was doing the wrong thing, but I think I'll perservere for a bit longer...

OP posts:

Original poster

babylily · 08/05/2006 14:59

hi pinkdolly,
I've just spoken to my mum and she has just told me that I had the same problem off and on between 3 and about 6. (for some reason she has failed to mention it to me every other time I've said I was concerned about it). She said she was told it was common in very intelligent children (probably why she didn't tell me before!) and that it did just clear up on its own.

I do wonder if it maybe it has a little bit to do with her feeling anxious about the little sister she is getting in August as she only started stammering at around the time we told her about the baby...

Our health visitors policy is a bit of an issue in my area. dd hasn't seen one since her 8 month check. The 2 year check was done using a tick box. I think I'm meant to be grateful that I'm deemed to be capable of managing without any help!

OP posts:

pinkdolly · 08/05/2006 17:51

Babylily,

Just read your post. I too have been wondering if DD1's stammering was down to her feeling anxious. She is also due to have another little sister in July (she does seem to be looking forward to it and keeps asking me how long till the baby comes).

My DH is in the navy and is currently on a course away. So we only get to see him at the weekends. I did notice that her stammering got worse when he had to go back to work after 2 weeks easter leave. She is a very sensitive and caring little girl.

I do hope you dont stess yourself over it too much. Perhaps we both have gifted children

Celia2 · 08/05/2006 21:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

stramash · 09/05/2006 23:34

My dd1 started stammering ovrnight at 2 1/2 ( when I was pregnant with dd2) .It was heartbreaking sometimes but we just pretended it wasn't a big deal ("Oh dear your words have got a bit stuck , never mind"). The British Stammering Association (?) have a useful website. It said that speech therapy was most effective when started early so I self referred to our local speech and language therapy dept - there was no problem doing so. By the time the appointment came through ( after about 4 months ) she had stopped stammering - it disappeared almost as soon as it had started.

The SALT team sent me a letter saying that , although her speech was fluent and she didn't need to be seen, I could phone up at any time and be seen without going on the waiting list again.

I think for many kids this is a normal stage of development but it can be very difficult to tell what's normal and what isn't. If you're worried you can just phone up the SALT dept at your local hospital without going through the HV.

stramash · 09/05/2006 23:41

The BSA website is \link{http://www.stammering.org}\

Just looked again and they have a "Help, my child has started to stammer "section which was very helpful.

Must go to sleep.

stramash · 09/05/2006 23:42

Can't do links either obviously. Just google it and it should come up.

AUBINA · 10/05/2006 19:25

My now 6 year old daughter developed a stammer when she was about 4. We went to see a speech therapist, we were referred by our HV. My daughter didn't stammer while she was there!! So the therapist just gave us advise on how to deal with it.

Make time every day to do a one-to-one activity with the child eg a board game.

Give the child time to talk, don't rush them, speak for them or talk over them.

I made a decision never to mention the word stammer or talk about it in front of her.

She gradually got better, it occasionally returns, if she is rushing to say something but I just ignore it.

I don't think it was an emotional issue in my daughter's case, she is in a hurry to do everything and I think her brain was working quicker than her mouth!

Fromthis thread it seems a common thing in pre-schoolers which is worrying while it is happening but most children come out the other side.

zippitippitoes · 10/05/2006 19:28

ds had a stammer for about twelve months around 3/4 years but it stopped without any intervention..i think it's quite common for that to be the case

daisy1999 · 10/05/2006 19:37

babylily I haven't read the rest of the thread so I may be repeating. My dd developed a stammer that sounds almost the same as you are experiencing when she was about 2 yrs. The hv referred her but by the time the appointment came through several months later it was gone. From talking to other parents I think it's quite common. We "treated" it ourselves by giving her time and space to talk. When she was talking I would bend down to her level and just wait for her to finish without interupting and made a real effort to look as though we had all the time in the world to finish. Her problem seemed to be trying to speak as fast as she was thinking!
Good luck and if you want refering go and see the doctor and insist on a referal.

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