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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

Sudden stutter in a 3 year old

14 replies

allovertheplace · 24/08/2007 19:26

Hi All

My dd, who has always been very chatty, even though her speech hasn't been terribly clear until recently, has suddenly started to really struggle to get her words out. I know this is a common thing at this age and it's usually a short-lived thing that rectifies itself, but the severity of this stutter is starting to worry me. She's been like this for around two weeks now and seems to be struggling with the beginnings of sentences e.g., for "I need more juice", it's I -I -I-I-I-I - I nee- I nee- I- nee, and so on. We're being very careful in allowing her to complete her words and phrases but she's starting to become quite frustrated with it herself.

Has anyone experienced this with their little ones? I'm really just looking for a bit of reassurance that these phases can appear quite severe but then get better with time and patience.

Cheers

OP posts:

christywhisty · 24/08/2007 20:20

In my children's health books, for one of the deveopment targets it asks
"Has your child got past the stuttering stage"

so it seems it's a normal phase of development.

Original poster

allovertheplace · 25/08/2007 07:19

Cheers Christywhisty

I guess that means it is pretty common if it's quoted as being a stage of development!

From what I can tell, there's a fair bit of evidence out there that it does come and go without warning. The only thing I can't seem to get info on is how severe these phases tend to me. My DD seems to be struggling with about 90 per cent of what she says and this morning she actually started to cry when she just couldn't tell me she was going to get her slipper from her room. The wee soul.

Thanks again

OP posts:

eidsvold · 25/08/2007 07:23

my dd2 did this - she was very very fluent and spoke very well then out of the blue seemed to stutter - and it was the beginning of sentences.

I would just tell her to take her time and it seemed to disappear as sudden as it arrived.

Celery · 25/08/2007 07:33

It is usually a normal phase of development, but as an adult stammerer, I would err on the side of caution - occasionally stammers don't just disappear of their own accord. If it's still there in 6 months time, I would definately be asking for a referral to a speech therapist. It will probably just go away on it's own, but it may not.

VF · 02/09/2007 21:10

I have a 2 + 10 month old and he has developed a stutter.

He also starts sentences with I-I-I-I-I and WHEN comes out WHE-WHE-WHE-WHE.

We have tried ignoring the stutter, asking him to slow down and think what he wants to say and also repeating the sentence back to him and asking him to say it. He seems good spirited and giggles , but I don't know how long this will last for .

Although it is quite reassuring that reading others comments, that this is a 'stage' in their development and this has really helped me.

Thank you.

cba · 02/09/2007 21:16

havent read the whole thread but ds2 had a really bad stammer, similar to your dd. It started just before he was three probably about 2.9 and by the time he was three he was getting really hurt by it. He started to drop eye contact and get upset and give up talking.

I got a private speech therapist to come. On the first visit she gave me exercises to do, that was the thursday. By the time he went to nursery on the tuesday he had massively improved, i coulndt believe it and they couldnt either.

I still have all the literature, if he ever laspses I just go back to the first step of fluency.

If you give me your email address i will email you all the info and let you know what to do rather than wait for it to get to bad.

cba · 02/09/2007 21:17

like celery said, not always a phase and I would definately do something about it.

It is heartbreaking to see your little one cry because they cant get their words out.

ManxMum · 02/09/2007 21:26

My eldest DS used to stammer and blink at that age. I just waited patiently for him to say what he needed to say and he's now 22 yo and working in Telesales!

There is just so much going on in a three year olds world and not enough mouth to express it all with!

beegee · 02/09/2007 21:36

Has anything changed recently in your lives?

My 2.6 yo ds started blinking rapidly and stammered a bit for about 2 mths after I'd just had dd...it slowly got less and less obvious overtime. Now it's completly gone.

It nevertheless made my heart weep everytime I saw him going through it and thinking about the stress he was under made me feel awful for him. I spoke to my HV at the time and she said it was very common and to just ignore it.

Good luck xx

bubblepop · 02/09/2007 21:41

hi, my eldest ds used to stutter around the age of 5, when he was in the first year of primary. he also developed a tic when he used to blink a lot and shrug his shoulders.
he did this for about a year and then it gradually dissappeared. don't panic yourself just yet, it'l probably just be a phase.

MaureenMLove · 02/09/2007 21:50

One of my mindees did this at around 3 as well. Mum took him to the speech therepy centre and they confirmed that it was nothing to worry about, as a lot of children do it at that age. Far too much going on in their little brains and not enough time to get the words out! They suggested ignoring it when he did it and within a couple of months it had all stopped. Keep an eye on it, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

bojangles · 02/09/2007 21:59

Hi, My DD did this around the age of 2 1/2 - just came out of the blue lasted a few months then went again. I spoke to my friend, who is a children's speech therapist, and she said it was very common and probably 'caused' because DD was such a good early talker that her mind was perhaps working faster than she could sometimes! She is now a very chatty 3 1/2 year old and doesn't stammer at all.

As others have said, keep an eye on it and it should go but if it doesn't then see a Speech therapist.

VF · 02/09/2007 22:44

Thank you all for your helpful comments .

I will sleep on it and digest what you have all said.

Franniban · 24/09/2007 20:03

My dh texted me today at work saying the pre school wanted to refer our ds to the health centre because of a stutter, he's 3.5 Have been worreid sick about it all day. We have noticed this over the last two months, exactly the same as other messages. I guess that if it is a problem that speach therapy would sort it out. Is this the case? What can they do?

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