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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

Stammer? Three year old

10 replies

Kingswood123 · 23/09/2015 22:31

Any advice appreciated. Son started nursery three weeks ago. Went to
Parents group evening tonight and teacher casually mentioned ds has a stutter.

Know what she is referring to. He does repeat the sound "guh guh guh" when he is finding the right word. It is the only duplication of sound he makes and the words that quickly follow don't start with the letter g.

Started a month or so ago and we'd assumed it was just him filling in whilst he thought of the right words.

His speech has lept forward in past few months. Not as chatty as others particularly girls in class though.

Am I wrong not to be worried? He's happy and not frustrated by it so don't want to make a big deal out of something that seems understandable?

Or are we kidding ourselves?!

OP posts:

MrsJamin · 23/09/2015 22:56

Ds2 (5) has often had a stutter off and on. It generally coincides with a leap forward in language, it's like theres suddenly a lot more words and language choices in his brain and it trips up slightly in making the choice. You may easily see it go as quickly as it's come on,weirdly. Just give him plenty of time and don't rush him or seem impatient. He'll get there in the end. If he's getting agitated perhaps ask the nursery teachers thoughts on supporting his language development.

HeyBells · 23/09/2015 23:14

DS developed a stammer at pre-school, which went again some weeks later, and again in year 2, which I was more worried about as he was older and seemed worse, but again it just stopped after a couple of months. As PP said, it seemed to be different skills developing at different rates, although he was always a bit anxious as well. When he started in year 7 he had a tic with his eyes for a few weeks. We didn't make an issue of it, though did speak to teacher in year 2, it didn't stop him answering in lessons or having a speaking role on their play.

TiesThatBind · 24/09/2015 22:42

My DS (nearly two) developed a very severe stammer over the summer. We got him seen by a SALT who said that about five per cent of children experience "normal dysfluency" (a short lived stammer). It is often associated with a leap in language development, or a life change (in our case arrival of DC2, but she also said moving house or starting new nursery/school can trigger it).

Apparently is no way of knowing if it is a normal dysfluency that they will grow out of, or a more deep rooted problem, except by waiting to see what happens. However stammering usually runs in families so if you have no family history it is much much more likely to be a passing phase.

She also said that the worst thing to do is worry, because children pick up on your anxiety and it makes them more nervous of speaking. So the advice was to ignore it, stay totally relaxed when it happens, try to model slow clear speech, don't force them to speak (ie reduce the number of questions that put them on the spot) and spend as much relaxed one on one time chatting to your DC as possible without TV/distractions etc.

I was really worried but two months later he seems to be getting much better.

Finallyonboard · 24/09/2015 22:53

We're having this at the moment! I think it's normal.

slightlyconfused85 · 25/09/2015 07:09

My dd suffered a really significant stammer twice : at 2.4 and 2.8. It lasted about 7-10 days each time then disappeared and was replaced with a massive leap in verbal ability. I worried but it passed and is apparently normal for lots of kids

slightlyconfused85 · 25/09/2015 07:11

Also a salt friend said that whatever you do don't acknowledge it or mention it, and wait as long as it takes for the child to say what they want to say without finishing their sentence

Original poster

Kingswood123 · 25/09/2015 14:25

Thanks everyone. Very reassuring. Is it worth mentioning to teachers not to make a deal out of it and be patient or is this something they would know?

OP posts:

MrsJamin · 25/09/2015 17:06

It's well worth mentioning but they should know, it's pretty common in that age group.

slightlyconfused85 · 25/09/2015 18:38

Definitely mention it- they will probably know but there's always the risk that someone might finish his sentences or something

PiccalilliSandwiches · 27/09/2015 20:59

DS had this for several weeks at about the same stage. I read a lot about it and it seems to be normal as above.

We found it best to not mention it, but when it happened we made sure we fully concentrated on what he was saying - got down to his level, maintained eye contact and waited as long as it took for him to say what he wanted to. Avoided finishing the word or sentence for him.

It passed and then came back for a couple of weeks after he started school. Then went away again.

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