Sudden stammer

[slightlyconfused85]

My 2.5 year old DD has very abruptly started stammering significantly. She has always been a good and fluent talker with no issues. It seems really bad to me, she does it at the beginning of sentences and sometimes on bigger words like elephant. The only thing it coincides with is potty training- she's done really well with this though and has never been told off although she gets a bit worked up about doing poos. Really worried about what I could have done to cause this and why she would do this so suddenly.

My son started doing this at a similar age. We self - referred to SALT, but by the time we were seen (3 months later) it had stopped almost as suddenly as it started. We did go to the SALT appointment and they said it was probably down to him learning so many new words that his brain was moving faster than his speech could keep up with (very ungrammatical and unscientific but hopefully you get the idea!). It hasn't come back since. Whilst it was going on we just waited for him to say whatever it was without butting in and reassured him that we would listen no matter how long it took to get the words out. The SALT said that was a good approach.

How long has your daughter been stammering? If it has been going on for a few weeks you might want to self - refer to SALT in your area as appointments take a while to come through. But it may well be temporary dysfluency as it was with my son and it is highly unlikely to have been caused by anything you've done so don't beat yourself up.

Both of mine did that on and off as their speech developed; I think at certain points they want to talk faster than they actually can. Or sometimes they just really like the sound of their own voice when they've nothing much to say.

So DS will say 'Why, why, w, w, why, why, why...have you got that top on?' for example - he wanted to be talking but was thinking of something to say as he spoke.

Thank you both. It is very recent I only started noticing it about 1 week ago. Did your children do it quite intensely? A lot of the time it is beginnings of sentence like you describe - w w w w w what are you doing mummy? Other times she just seems to be struggling to spit a word out. Today for example she was looking at a picture of an ambulance and trying to say it but just said A A A A until she gave up perhaps a watch and wait approach for a few weeks and if it doesn't get better contact the salt?

I knew a boy at playgroup who stammered in ordinary conversation, but if he had a toy or puppet he could speak FOR the puppet without any stammer. I usually ask if the child can 'read' without a stammer, but presumably DD is too young to be reading.

So, try with a favourite doll or teddy, and see if she can talk on behalf of the doll, and whether it makes any difference at all.

Slightly please don't stress! My dd did exactly this at the same age. I self referred her to the SLT team and by the time the appt came through it had stopped. Just google your county with 'Speech And Language' and it should direct you to information on how to refer but I reckon that because it has come on so quickly and is so chronic that it will dissipate. My dd's went on for about 6 weeks or so if I remember rightly. The SALT team said these transient issues aren't uncommon. (And to be fair even if it isn't a transient thing she would still be fine)

slightly apologies for not replying to your questions earlier - yes, what you're describing sounds just like my son's experience and the approach you're planning to take sounds very sensible. Hope it is not bothering your DD too much and that it goes away soon.

My dd did this at the same age and there were several in her class at nursery that did too. Apparently it's perfectly normal as speech catches up with their brain and desire to communicate. It will pass in a month or two, no need for SALT.

My ds did this too at around the same age. I found it really hard as he had always been a good talker a and it got so bad it started distressing him and it was like he was getting stuck numerous times in a sentence. It stopped almost as quickly as it started in about 6 weeks. But we self referred to salt and she told us we should always refer to salt with stutter as although it is common at this age they always take stutters seriously as you can't tell which stutters are going to stay being a problem. But in the meantime, don't put pressure on dd to speak, reassure her you can wait etc etc.