4 year old stuttering

[mummy2t]

My little boy has stuttered on and off for maybe last 8months, comes and go's nothing major, no pacticular thing set it of, we kinda just ignored the fact he was doing it as we didnt want to bring it his attention. Now i am 37 weeks pregnant with second baby and he has taken to wanting to be with dad more and stuttering really badly, mainly around me. thing is its like the tourette's in a way cause when he finally gets the word out he shouts it and there is abit of like a twitch, sometimes he has his head right back, only been happening for past 3 days. he is a child who loves his rountine and as its half term, its thrown him abit. i think maybe its because of the changes with baby coming etc but i dont want to dismiss it when it could be serious, please help, really worried
thanks in advance x

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Have you taken him to the gp to see what he thinks? Might be worth getting a professional opinion if only to eliminate your suspicions.

For stuttering we always gave the child our full attention for the time it took for them to say what they wanted to say. My mum did the same for my sister when she was a toddler. We also encouraged them to slow down and take their time. Eventually they don't feel they have to rush whatever they want to say. Might that be the same with your ds? It can take a while and quite a bit of patience.

My friends DS had this and you must never ever correct them or say the word for them or finish the sentance for them . You must ignore it and make it really clear to his techer to do the same as it can set them back big time . Ther is paper work to back this up . After a time it will go but you must ignore it and do nothing .

DD did this recently for a while, whe she stuttered I'd just say 'Hang on a second, think about what you want to say, then say it', she'd think, then she;d speak, it was just her trying to get words out before her brain was finished, she doesnt do it much now unless she is really excited.

DD also did the head thing btw. stuttering and getting worse and worse then throwing her head forward like a sneeze when she said it, she would say 'My brother blah blah blah' and tell em something , then I'd ask why she didn;t say his name and she'd tell me it was because 'I can't say Bobby' but she'd say it fine then, whereas if she tried to start the sentence 'bobby blah blah blah' she would stutter awfully on his name and not be able to say it, just because she was putting so much effort into saying the word.

Havent taken him to GP yet, thought i'd see if it settled once he is at school again and see how he goes after the baby is born. I dont want to make a big deal of it if its just happening because of all the change thats happening at the mo, like i say he is into his routine and at the mo it's all change for him.
We dont correct him or tell him to slow down etc etc we just wait for him to finish, its just heartbreaking cause he has noticed he is doing it and ask's why he cant talk properly. i just tell him it's cause he is so excited he cant get his words out quick enough and have even told him that daddy sometimes does it and then he seems quite happy to know that its ok. His Dad doesnt stutter but i think it just made him realise he isnt different. i think i'll play it by ear for next few weeks etc and see how he goes, this is a major time in all our lives it bound to have some kind of effect on him.
thanks for all your help and i will defo go to the Gp if he doesnt settle down. xxx

DS1 was the same around this age and coincidentally I was also pg with 2nd DS by then. I think its the rush to try and get what he wants to say in before he loses your attention that causes the stammer. Mine was worse when talking to his dad (who has less patience than me and would be half way out the door by the time poor DS had managed to spit out a sentence!) so we both made a real effort to be attentive and as others have said, never rush it or finish the sentence for him.

Now if he ever slips back into it (usually less like actual stammering but more like starting a sentence then using erm, er, um as pauses) we tell him to think about it first then tell us what he wants to say.

Its very distressing but when you hear how stammerers have managed to overcome their problem by breathing exercises and taking time to speak slowly you can see how it occurs and how to try and help it.

thanks for advice everyone, its such a help to have you all here!!

Glad I found this. My DDs (also 4) stammer seems to have got a lot worse lately... I think it is because I am busy and the baby is crying and I want her to hurry up and say what she wants to say. I notice she doesn't stammer at all when she is playing with her playmobil and doing all their voices.

I shall endeavour to be more patient. It's good to know it's normal and will hopefully right itself eventually.