Stutter/stammer in 3YO

[flossy28]

Hi there!
I’m looking for some advice and reassurance.
Last November, my daughter (then 2 years and 8 months) suddenly developed a stutter overnight. Up until then, her speech had been very advanced for her age – using complex sentences and speaking confidently so we had never had any speech or language concerns.

I spoke to a private SLT who reassured me that this can be common, especially in children who have lots to say. She advised us to slow down our own speech, not to interrupt or finish our daughter’s sentences, keep a calm environment, and not react differently whether she stutters or not and just keep an eye on it. We followed all of this, and within a few weeks, the stutter faded.

Since then, the stutter has come and gone a few times. Sometimes it lasts a few days, other times a week or more. It does seems to flare up during or after an illness, or if she’s having a little burst in vocab. However, it returned again in mid-May and has been much more noticeable. It feels like I’m talking to a different child at times now, which can be really hard to watch.

On the whole, she does seem unaware which is positive, but has a couple of times said “I can’t say it Mummy!” Or “you say it for me”. If this does happen we reassure her and say “It’s ok darling, there’s no rush. I’m listening” and then she’ll say it again with no issues.

I wonder if it could be a bit of a regression as her sentences become longer and more complex and her brain is just taking a break while processing all that info – but the fact that it’s been going on this long is a little worrying.

This week I called our HV, who referred us to SLT since the issue has now been ongoing (on and off) for six months. We’ve had a phone call already and have an assessment booked for 3rd July. Thankfully, they backdated the referral as we should’ve been referred when the stutter first appeared (apparently!)

Has anyone else experienced this with their child – where the stutter came and went over a longer period but eventually resolved on its own or with the help of therapy?

For context: there’s no strong family history of stuttering, though my DH brother had one as a child but largely grew out of it.

Thanks so much in advance.

Bump!

Hi @flossy28 .

It's great that you have been so proactive with finding support for your little one. It is not unusual for children who stammer to have times where their speech fluency comes and goes, especially in young children who have advanced language skills highlighted from an initial SLT assessment. Some of the main reasons to seek Speech Therapy support, however, are: if you feel the stammer is gradually worsening over time (especially if it has been 6+ months since onset) and if your child is starting to show signs of awareness and frustration (e.g. giving up on saying words, etc).

There is lots that speech therapy can help with and it is great that you have an appointment with a Speech Therapist (hopefully specialising in childhood stammering) coming up soon as early intervention is important.

Lucy Colcombe
Specialist Private Speech Therapist

Thank you so much for your reply! It’s great to hear that speech therapy can be beneficial. It’s certainly not been constant for 6 months, and it does come and go. The current “episode” seems to sync with a cold, a holiday and now another cold so there’s been lots going on. She’s a very switched on and bright little girl so I think she has so much to say/ask/learn and it gets a little stuck coming out. I’ve never stammered but my mind equally goes a million miles a hour! There doesn’t seem to be any particular pattern to the words she stammers, just random.

I’ve spoken to nursery and they’ve said they’ve only noticed it a few times recently and if I hadn’t shared my concerns they wouldn’t have flagged just yet - which is also encouraging.

99% of the time she is unaware and we respond in exactly the same way. She’s started to do little twitches with her lips on occasions but not like screwing her face up or forcing the words out per se.

I’ve really made a conscious effort so slow down not only speech but our pace of life a little. I have seen a slight improvement over the last 24 hours so hoping it’s a phase which seems so common but good to hear that therapy can help if we need it.

Hi @flossy28

You are very welcome. Here to help in any way I can.

It sounds as if you are doing a great job at trying to create a calm, unhurried communication environment at home. This will help a lot!

Some of my best tips, which you are already doing some:

• Slow down your own rate of speech, using a relaxed tone and pausing more.
• Avoid rushing or filling silences – give your child time to finish speaking.
• Build quiet time into your day where you can focus on 1-to-1 interaction.
• Maintain eye contact and show you're listening.
• Avoid finishing sentences or prompting to “slow down” or “start again”.
• Respond to what is said, not how it is said – focus on the message.
• Encourage everyone at home to take turns speaking.
• Reduce interruptions and overlapping speech – use “talking turns” at the table.
• Keep a routine and reduce background noise (e.g. TV off during 1:1 play time).
• If your child shows frustration when they get stuck on a word or says something about their stammer (hence showing awareness of stammer), it is okay and encouraged to acknowledge this, e.g. "Some words are hard to get out. Its okay, I'm listening", "Well done, you kept going even though it was hard", "That word got a bit stuck, didn't it?" - you are also encouraged to notice your own hesitations in speech, e.g. "My words seem to be getting stuck at the moment", "Do you know, I'm tripping up over lots of my words today".

I hope this helps.

Lucy Colcombe
Specialist Private Speech Therapist

Thank you so much, this is fab and I really appreciate the support and advice. I have also read that you should reduce the amount of questions you ask them, which we’ve done to some exteng, but I obviously want to continue to have conversations with her. Is there an appropriate way to do this to still keep conversation going but without her feeling pressure e.g Is “tell me about your day at nursery” preferred vs. “what did you do at nursery today?”. The stammer has been pretty much non existent today. Thanks again for your help.