3 year old with stammer - worried Mummy advice please??

[PisforPeter]

My just turned 3 year old DD has suddenly developed a stammer in past couple of weeks. She started talking at a normal age & there are no other developmental concerns. Google says not to worry too much but can anybody reassure me that they have been through this as it upsets me to see her struggling & I worry that other children might comment if it lasts till school age

My DD had this on and off between 3&4. Her speech and vocabulary was otherwise very good for her age. I believe her brain just couldn't process what she wanted to say.

She's 6 now and speaks beautifully.

If you're concerned talk to your health visitor but hopefully it's just a phase.

Bump

Only advice I've heard is definitely don't draw her attention to it. Don't even mention it. Self consciousness will make it worse and it'll probably go away by itself.

I am doing speech therapy with my nearly 3 year old boy. He has the vocabulary and speech ability of an adult. Our therapist has suggested special times with your child 1 2 1 following their lead playing. Waiting before you say anything whilst doing this and only speaking when required. More comments than questions when interacting during this time. As constant questions make a childs brain be trying to answer you while they might be wanting to say something else so then a stammer occurs. Also lots of praise when they have done something great. Telling them why you are so proud of them. We are finding the 121 time very helpful. He is much less bumpy when we are having our special times. You do find yourself using the different parts every day. Time is definitely precious so as much 1 to 1 time as you can. Have you been assessed?

No, not yet Beaver but I'm going to speak to somebody this week. Thank you for your advice

We have an appointment to be seen privately on Thursday so we'll see what happens. We're in London & a long wait for NHS service.

Hi, can a health visitor refer for speech or does it need to be a GP? Experiencing very similar issues to the OP. Thank you

Not entirely sure about England and Wales but in Scotland you can self refer. Your GP surgery will advise/ give you SLT contact details.

Maybe not much help but I heard some expert on children's speech on radio 4 once. He was talking about far fewer children stammering these days and said this is because we don't correct them any more, don't tell them to speak properly and just wait patiently for them to say what their saying. The stammer usually passes on it's own without intervention because of this. So, make sure nobody tells him to spit it out, finishes his sentences or shows any impatience with him.

My son had this between 3 & 4. I considered speech therapy because it was starting to be noticed by other people. I think it can be normal for this age especially when their brains process the words faster than their mouths operate! It passed after around 6-8 months.

Definitely don't mention it! DS realised he would do it and give up half way through a sentence - that saddened me more than the stammer itself.

TheOnly you should be able to check your NHS trust to see if referral is needed from GP/HV.

We've just done a stammering awareness training at school.
At his age it may possibly be simply that his brain is working faster than his mouth. He can't quite keep,up with everything that he wants to say.
We were told to not draw attention to it. Give him all the time he needs to say what he wants. Don't try to hurry him and don't try and second guess what he wants to say.
I would ask for some medical advice but try not to worry to much as he is likely to grow out of it.