3 year old with sudden severe stutter - please help, worried sick :(

[1fish2fish]

My 3.9 year old son suddenly began stuttering 7 weeks ago. Literally overnight, he just woke up one morning with it, having always been a great little talker. We have had no upset or stress that could have caused it. Initially it was an ordinary repetition stutter and wasn't so bad. Then it almost went away and then came back but it had changed. It's now developed into a 'block' where he pauses and takes big audible breaths for upto 10 seconds before eventually the sentence comes out nice and smooth. He opens his mouth quite wide and his face contorts a bit and to be honest it looks awful, it's breaking my heart to see and hear him like this. It's only been a week since it has become this bad, and the block happens before I wold say 50% or more of all his sentences. I am going out of my mind with worry now, seeing the doctor Monday and SLT Tuesday. I am following all the advice to not let him see I am worried, to give him time and basically just carry on as normal but am finding it so hard as I am wracked with worry. The 'block' seems to be unusual, anybody else had this?

golga are u getting SALT? I'd recommend if he's aware of it to refer yourself as it take take a while. Just cancel it if it resolves in the mean time. Very young children like your DS often stammer but blocking and awareness are not as common so it should be taken seriously but only because its so treatable at his age so its best to get in early.

Read the stammering advice online things like dont tell them to stop and take a breath or anything. Using the appropriate language if he wants to talk about it etc.

look here

Thanks for the reply Twerking. Have read up quite a lot and been following the advice - I think he's a bit less bothered about it now; still aware, but just finding it a bit pesky rather than getting upset. Haven't got on the list for SALT yet as it's all still so recent a development and I wanted to give him time to resolve it himself, but I think I will give the HV a call tomorrow and get the details for self-referral. His current nursery keyworker did a one-to-one with him and found no probs (although she did it after nap time, so he wasn't either excitable or tired!), and his childminder has been looking out for it and hasn't seen any indication of it. His first keyworker from the baby room at nursery (whom he loves dearly) was babysitting for us on Saturday night and was looking out for it because she knew how worried I am. She could hear it, and wondered if it's just because he's so excited about telling us what he's been doing outside of the home that he just gets carried away and 'stuck'. Thanks again for the advice!

Hi 1Fish2fish - I have been trawling the web and found your post - and thought, that's JUST like my son... His 'symptoms' (for want of a better word) sound exactly like your child's... I saw that you last posted in May, so was wondering how he is getting on now?
My son has only been stuttering for 6 weeks but it feels like forever.. Plus we have stuttering in the family (gah).
Thanks!

I have only just seen this post, but wanted to add a recommendation for the Lidcombe Programme of treatment. It is true that many children do grow out of their stammers, but apparently if they are going to do so, it is usually within 6 months and almost always within one year. My own DC are 15 and 13 and both had the most chronic stammers. My son had the secondary characteristics of blinking and even smacked his mouth. Eventually he just became very quiet. It started suddenly at about 2.5 and within 3 weeks had become very severe. After a bit of research, we began the Lidcombe Programme with him and within 6 months he was fluent. My Dd then started stammering and if anything her stammer was even worse although she was less upset about it than my son. We followed the programme and she also achieved fluency. Neither has ever relapsed( following the maintenance programme is very important) and they have little recollection of having stammered.

We made the decision to start therapy rather than wait six months because of the distress my son experiencing. If your Dcs aren't in distress then waiting six months is probably a good thing, but crucially the treatment should be begun by the age of 5 for best results.

I hope this helps, it is such an upsetting thing to watch your child suffer, but it is treatable. I remember how devastated I was to hear that my DD had the second worst stammer the therapist had heard in 20 years ( her percentage of stuttered syllables was at 20 percent when 10 is considered severe). She once had 35 goes at saying the word knickers! Now at 13 though, there is not a trace. It was hard work,but definitely worth it.

Thank you so much Hattiehoo for your post. I have to say, I did chuckle a little at the thought of 35 goes saying knickers... :) (It is a very important word, of course...!) And great to know that you valued the Lidcombe program so much. I have found someone for my own son and although via Skype (as we are in Singapore for a the year) I hope that we can make progress that way. Thank you though - these posts make me feel a lot better :)

Hi, I wonder if there are any updates on this thread? My son (just turned 2) started stammering quite severely almost 3 months ago (repetitions, prolongations, blocks). He has since been going through cycles of fluency and disfluency. It has been really stressful for both him and me. :(

I fully support Hattiehoo's comments on the Lidcombe programme. We decided not to wait (started about 4-5 months after stammer initially began). After 14 months or DS was stammer free. Three years on, he is still stammer free.

My son is almost 4, has had a stutter on and off for 18 months. We had general therapy and he did get better. At one point he was throwing his arms in the air when he started a sentence to force the word out. It eventually went away for 4 months but has one back and is getting worse. He is starting to use his arms again and jump in the air when trying to get a word out. We are going to therapy again this week and may start Lidcombe. I was just wondering how your child was going I or if anyone else has had such events. So so worried!

How did it go with your son?

Hi, I posted a thread about this just a few weeks ago. My 2 and a half year old daughter who is an excellent talker woke one morning doing all that you describe very severely. I was really panicking too but HV and a friend who is an SLT advised me that it is very very common in the under 5s as their brains skip ahead of their mouths for a while. I was advised not to ever finish her sentences, don't copy her or even acknowledge it and wait. I did all of this and within 10 days it went away as quickly as it came. Really awfully stressful though and I feel your stress - I'm sure you will be reassured by your SLT but I'm sure it will pass.

Hey! I know this is an old thread but I found these comments so helpful when I was going through something similar that I wanted to leave a comment for other parents who might be going through a similar thing!

My son aged 2y8m has an excellent vocabulary for his age. We notice one a Tuesday that his words had expanded a lot and thought he must be having a period of language development. Anyway woke up on the Friday morning and he had developed a stutter - it started as prolongations and repititions at the beginning of words AND mid sentence - on the Saturday it was so bad that he started to whisper because he just could not get the words out - this went on for 2 weeks and I was very upset - I cried a lot - spoke to the dr and health visitor who weren't much help. - looked at forums and other parents were very re assuring! -anyway another week passed and it got very severe - he started to sound like he had a problem in his brain he literally could not get one word out - he started moving his head around and shouting to try to force the words out - he also was covering his mouth with his hands and having blocks and giving up. It was very sad. -anyway another week has passed and I'm pleased to say that it's almost gone (4 weeks in total) I mean he still does a bit of it maybe once every 10 sentences but it's definitely a lot better. I just wanted to write this so that other parents might feel some re-assurance at a scary time.

This thread - albeit an old one - has helped me greatly! My daughter turned 3 in Jan and she has been stuttering to varying degrees for about 5 weeks.. Everybody said wait for 6 weeks before going to SALT - but reading this it seems it can take much longer.
If you're still on mumsnet 1fish2fish... I wonder how your son is now?

Hi both my boys developed a stutter about 3 years of age. I brought them to specch & language therapy, its v common especially with boys, they both overcame it in a few weeks though. Im a naturally very fast speaker (everything i my life is rushed & in a hurry !). Therapist made me aware of this & to try & slow down a bit when speaking, especially to my boys when they had the stutter. Also said that its common for people to say to others who are stuttering, things like : 'calm diwn, relax, take your time, start again, etc, or to finish their sentences. She said not to do this as it only draws their attention to the fact that they have a problem. Just let them finish in their own time. Hope thibgs improve.

I just wanted to post again with an update (in case it helps other parents going through the same thing) I last posted in January and said after 4 weeks it was going.. it didn't go, it got better temporarily and then came back again and then went again. It seems to come and go every few weeks, 3 weeks good and then 2 weeks bad. The bad times seem to get worse each time . We have had 3 months of speech therapy but not intensive because they don't want to draw too much attention to it at this stage, this lay 2 weeks have been particularly bad again with eye movements and facial expressions along with moving his arms about a lot and covering his mouth and whispering. He will often stutter at the beginning of sentences, during and at the end with some blocking :-( so I would say that's severe. I'm much calmer this time because I know that it does come and go. He is 3yr5mo now and this started 9 months ago. Il keep you posted.

Hi all, I have a 3yr boy who is an advance talker. Suddenly a week after his 3rd birthday on Jan 8th; he started to stutter. Within 4-5 days, it became severe with prolongation & blockage. I can see the stress on his face to get the word out. We did notice that his vocabulary and speaking skills jumped a month prior to his birthday (he was speaking two sentences). Even now sometimes he surprises us with words he is trying to get out as they are advance vocabulary. He is hyper kid who is full of energy and use to speak very fast.
We made an appointment with ST next week and hopefully it is developmental stutter. It is reassuring to read on this thread that it is not uncommon for pre-schooler to go through this.
Tlc1234 and 1fish2fish, can you share an update as it been a while since you have posted.

New to the thread but my son had this problem at age 3 and age 4 (during his first term at school). I would say it was severe at times, with blockages and he started to get upset. We went to a speech therapy drop in about 3 months into the first bout but by then it was already improving and it seemed to go away on its own. It then came back the following summer and we were referred to speech therapy and had a therapist who did the Lidcombe method. His stutter the second time round was less severe but it upset him, particularly at school. The therapy really worked for him and he has had no problems at all since winter 2016 - he's now 5 3/4. The speech therapist said this was very common and probably (as has been said above) down to his brain working faster than his speech. I hope this is reassuring to the new posters on the thread.

I'm little late in this thread but I really need help and am worried. My son was also a excellent speaker he used to talk 2-3sentences together for his age is was advanced, he is 2year 5months old now. He had a febrial seizure last week and after that I feel his stammering has worsened. He is keeping quiet in situations where he should talk even if he talks he has a starting trouble then rest he is able to speak sentences. My pediatric asked me see a neurologist we met him and he wants us to take a brain scan just to exclude any autism. Should I take him for the scan or is just because of stammering he isbloosing his confidence and not talking. Anyone undergone a similar situation and rectified.

Parents who posted in this thread, how are your little ones doing now?

I'm worried sick as I have a little one in a similar situation. He can hardly get a sentence out and I just feel so bad for him. It started off with a stutter but now he's getting blocks too :(

Just an update on my end as I'm sure there will be parents reading this, DS's stutter has mainly disappeared. It was really really bad but it looks like it was just a phase.

Fingers crossed!

Dear Parents, how are your little ones doing now? I know this is an old post but it will be great if every one share how you child is doing now, It will be really help full people like us.

Please please please do share how your child is doing now.

My DD is now 4.5 year now and she started stuttering from last 2 months. Before she talk very fluent, One morning she wake up and we notice that She is Stuttering (reparative first word) and it gradually increased (like blocking and same like what fish has mention in this thread). Sometime, couple of day she is almost better just bit of stuttering and than again it become severe. Sometime she is complete block and see the tension on face and struggle to get the word out and someday much better. There is always a different pattern we see.

How is your son now?

@1fish2fish
Hi, I know this thread is really old. My daughter is 3.10 yrs old and going through exact same thing, from repeating words to complete block.

I m very worried. it would very helpful if you can update on your child's situation now and what things you did to help your child?

@PaperMantra
Any update on your child's situation now ? My daughter's is 3.10 yrs old and started stuttering, she had no speech issues before.. very worrying.
Any update will be helpful.

My 26 month old son started having letter prolongation and word blocks just a few days ago out of the blue. He also gets the muscle tension when this happens. It happens to probably 5-6 sentences out of the 10. Just before all this, he was a quick and proficient speaker and hit all his milestones early. He was great at reciting all his alphabets and numbers. My questions are: 1) Can emotional trauma cause this type of sudden behavior? My husband and I have been getting into verbal arguments in front of him, although he never seemed too bothered by them. 2) His symptoms fall under the atypical category which really concerns me. Can atypical stuttering be reversed? Super worried and sad about this happening. :(