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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

22 month old has started to stutter. Should I be worried?

11 replies

mylittlestar · 26/06/2007 13:57

Ds is 22 months. Was an early talker, and talking in full sentences by about 18 months.

Last week or so I have noticed that he has started to stutter on his first word. So for example he will say ...what what what what is mummy doing?...
He does not stutter on any particular letters, or once he has started the sentence, just the first word.

It is like he knows in his brain what he wants to say, but just cannot get it out fast enough. If that makes sense?

Should I be worried? And should I be doing anything in particular to help him?

OP posts:

Sixofone · 26/06/2007 14:03

That is exactly it - language skills develop faster than oromotor skills, so he does know exactly what he wants to say, but either doesn't have all the words to match the concept, or can't make his mouth go quick enough

It's called NORMAL non fluency and starts about your ds's age. You needn't worry, it'll go away on it's own when his mouth catches up.

The best things you can do are:

Encourage him to take his time to minimise his frustration. Minimise situations where he needs to rush - if he wants a chat, sit down and make him see there's no hurry. If he has older siblings interrupting or competing for talking time, get them to pipe down while ds is talking, say 'It's (name's) turn to talk now' or whatever.
Don't draw attention to it in a negative way. 'Proper' stammers can sometimes start when children are taught a fear of stammering (the fear then perpetuates the stammering IYSWIM.)
Don't let him think you're worried about it, sgain if he thinks it's something to be worried about, it will be.

If it's still happening in 18 months time it might be worth going to see a speech therapist but for now it's OK

muppetgirl · 26/06/2007 14:15

I would definately agree but I would ask -has he heard anyone else stutter?
This isn;t as silly as it sounds, a friend of mine's little boy spoke fine and then in his class at nursery entered a stutterer of the type you describe and her little boy started doing the same thing.
She did as sixofone suggested and he seems better now.
With our ds3 we just encourage him to have a little think and try agin if it happens.

binkleandflip · 26/06/2007 14:17

No it's incredibly common. They generally talk wonderfully to start, then the little brains get ahead of their mouths and it all comes out in a big rush or a stutter and most children grow out of it in no time

plummymummy · 26/06/2007 14:19

Agree with binkle

Original poster

mylittlestar · 26/06/2007 14:25

Thanks so much

No he hasn't heard anyone else stutter I don't think. We're living at my mums temporarily at the moment and there's a lot of people about and a lot going on. Now I think about it I wonder if he is just trying to make himself heard above all the noise!

I'll definitely make sure I don't draw attention to it and make sure everyone takes time to listen to him.

Like you say, hopefully over time his speech will be able to keep up with all the things going on in his brain!

Your replies have helped so much. Thank you

OP posts:

plummymummy · 26/06/2007 14:54

My ds stuttered around the same age as your lo and it lasted a while but gradually lessened. Now he won't stop talking Takes after his father!

christywhisty · 26/06/2007 16:44

It actually said in ds's blue health book for one of the health checks
"has your child got over the stuttering stage yet!" so it is obviously perfectly normal development stage.

Original poster

mylittlestar · 26/06/2007 19:24

thank you!

have got home tonight and it's really bad

I hope it doesn't last too long...

OP posts:

auburnmum · 26/06/2007 21:17

my dd did this for a bit. It is normal non-fluency and does not last. She would try to engage my attention by beginining a sentence with no clue as to where it was going, so would repeat the first word until her brain caught up. Don't worry ... really

jackie2kids · 26/06/2007 21:28

DS did this for ages. People used to stare at him as he would shout to get the words out. He also used to pull at his lip as if he was trying to pull the word out.

I had a chat with the speech therapist at work who said the same thing as sixofone.

It did clear up by itself eventually.

Original poster

mylittlestar · 27/06/2007 10:53

Thanks everyone. Honestly your support means so much right now. I feel so much better just knowing that other people have experienced it and it can be normal.

I was feeling really anxious about it last night because it was so bad, and it was like the final straw afer a really bad day!
So in the end I lay on the bed with him after his bath and we talked about the day and sang a few songs. Completely away from everone else, no tv on, no distractions. I noticed it wasn't anywhere near as bad when he was calm and talking one to one. Feel a bit better about it today. Thank you

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