Stuttering and therapy

[Sweetmommy]

Hi Moms,

I have questions today about a sudden stuttering with my 4 years old son that appeared 2-3 months ago. It was really mild at first, only repeating 2-3 times first word/letter. After a month, I went to my doctor who said I could wait it out (it could disappear by it's own) or I could go see a speech therapist. I didn't take chances, knowing that waiting list to see a speech therapist in public service is 1+ year here in Canada.

Last month, his first words became more and more repetitives, so I began looking for private therapist. Last week, it began to be a lot more severe. It sounded like bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu but Mommy!, and there was prolongation like Ssssssssssssssssss-ssssssssssssssss- snake and big time blocking, like PPPPPPPPPPPPP-PPPPPPPPP-BLOCK-Papa, like he was forcing really hard. He started putting his hand over his mouth to get the word out.. it was painful to watch and heartbreaking!!!! I cried so much this week!

I immediately booked a consultation on Thursday with a speech therapist. Her diagnostic is that it is real stuttering and not transitional. She ordered me like 20 months of speech therapy (not every week all time) which I find a bit excessive! It is also very expensive. She said we have to see each other even if the stuttering disapeared? But also 80% of time it disappear by it's own without treatment...

Anyway, to make it shorter, the stuttering highly decreased since then. Today he didn't stuttered at all!! I read stuttering always fluctuate, but I also read it can disappear by its own after some weeks, months! That it is sometimes due just to development phase. He actually recently started speaking with more complex sentences. He has a slight delay with his speech.

I dont know what should I do. Do you have similar experiences with a stuttering child? Should I postponed the therapy sessions, which starts next week, or go anyway and cancel if the stuttering doesn't come back.

Sorry for the long story, I read so much about stuttering last weeks and there is so many opposite informations. I even talked to many speech therapist and the information is never the sam.I thought real people experiences would help me clear this up!

Thank you in advance for your help.

My youngest has a stutter. He's just turned 4. It's difficult what to suggest really. They do say that stuttering can resolve itself. I will be honest, my son's has improved largely on its own. He is still on the waiting list for therapy with it. Personally, in your situation, I would still go ahead with the planned treatment.

I hear you. This is really tough. We went through the same. NHS said it would go away. Private said he needed therapy. I tore myself up. Read every book. Joined the British stammering association. We were recommended the Lidcombe program. This is really simple and positive and something you can do at home. I found it really hard at first as it involves pointing out stammering and asking the child to try it again e.g "that's a bumpy one right? See if you can try a smooth one." Lots of positive praise for "smooth" talking. And even some time where you all deliberately do bumpy talking together. It really does get easier and feels positive. And takes the taboo out of it as it was my feeling that no one should mention it ever. But it's there. DS is 9 now and it's mostly disappeared altogether. Not sure if this helped or not but it felt like I was doing something positive and not trying to sweep it under the carpet. I know how hard this is but I bet it will pass for you too.

Fatted: Thank you for your answer. I am happy to hear it is getting better for your son! What age did he started the stutter and how severe was it? I think too, I should at least go and see the therapist even though it is decreasing a lot. We never know... There is so little facts available about this problem!

Summerhouse! Thank you too for your answer! I did read about the Lidcombe. This is another question I have, my speech pathologist doesn't recommend this therapy. Others swear by it... Soooo confusing! What age your son started his stutter and how severe was it? Did you waited long to start the treatment? Did you see fluctuation in his stuttering (completely disappeared and then came back?)

I’ve been a stutterer as far back as I can remember. It has fluctuated my whole life though. I’ll go for months without it really bothering me then it will come back. I had speech therapy as a kid but I can’t say it really helped. What certainly didn’t help was my head teacher appointing me as narrator in every play we ever did at school. She must have thought if I was thrown in to the situation I’d have to get over it!

I manage it myself by swapping words for ones that are easier to say and avoiding phone calls. Phone calls are the worst! It hasn’t marred my life. I don’t like it when people mention it though, it makes me ten times as bad.

He was three nearly four. We saw someone very quickly but there was literally no one local so we would have had to take him on a 100 mile round trip and pay private. His disappeared literally overnight then would come back. In the turmoil of deciding about treatment it went away. But we generally settled on doing Lidcombe at home. You need a therapist that specialises in stammering. The local ones I contacted who were general all said this to the point they would not take on someone with a stammer. Is there anyone in your family with a stammer? There is some evidence of it being hereditary.

Oh and DS was assessed as moderate to severe.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2350493-To-ignore-a-stammer
Some good advice on here. This is my post where I was in utter confusion about Lidcombe. Oh and DS was 4 nearly 5...

Hi Summerhouse; no one at all that stutters in our families and we both have big families! The therapist I chose only treats stuttering- nothing else. She has +30 years of experience, is a founder of a stuttering association for young people, teach about stuttering in University, wrote books, etc... Her says is that since Lidcombe is only feedbacks made by the parent, when the parent is gone, it could come back since the parent is the only support. Her therapy does include some feedbacks and everyday practice with the parent, but she also teach the kid how to be more fluent and take his time and breathing exercise. Its a method she has perfected over the years.

But what works with one could not work with another one, I guess. Its almost a trial and approach method, I found. Very abstract for me. But she seems to have a lot of knowledge!

Mine too got assessed moderate to severe!

So if I understood well, you saw a therapist just for an evaluation, read about Lidcombe online and practice it yourself and didn't saw a therapist? And it went away for good after some months?

We did both parent child interaction therapy and Lidcombe therapy for a persistent stammer. We still have a stammer that comes and goes but I think I understand his stammer a lot more now - I know what is likely to make things worse or better. Anxiety and change are big things for him. It also seems to be a processing thing - complex information recall e.g. storytelling from memory is likely to be difficult.

We started treatment after several months (maybe a year) of stammering. That seemed to be the criteria here, that we had to know it wasn’t just a developmental phase

Yes that's right we never had therapy just assessment and we did Lidcombe till it went away with some support calls to the private therapist that recommended it. Your therapist sounds brilliant. I would go with it. Hang the cost if you can afford to.

TurquoiseTamborine: thank you for your gracious answer. It seems you got in the 1% of adults who keeps the stuttering. I am happy to hear it didn't bother your life too much. I guess it is pretty mild :) I had a friend too at high school who had a moderate stutter. She was a very kind and she had a big circle of friend and it didn't seem to bother her lifestyle that much, just like you!

Stillworkingitout: I thought to wait it out too, but I also read the sooner he is taken in charge, the best chance to go. I really try right now to not over stress my child. I am myself an anxious and easily stressed person, I try to relax more and give him more time.

So, there is some evidence that treatment before age 7 may be important. But here at least they like to see that it’s not just something that will fix itself. I don’t know if that’s an nhs funding issue, but our stammer was unusual in that it was linked to advanced language skills (often they are associated with a delay) and so seems to be a processing issue. His mouth can’t keep up with his brain, he can’t form the words quickly enough. The treatment was interesting but a lot of the time it felt like I was the one being treated. In all, I got a good understanding of the mechanics behind his stammer, he still has it, it’s not extreme and we are learning to love it

My daughter's stuttering was quite bad around that age, and the best piece of advice I read was to talk more slowly with her - they apparently try to copy your speed of talking, but can't do it . It really helped, we noticed a difference almost immediately, and now 2 years later there's no stuttering. Of course, she may have been one of those 80% and it would have stopped anyway, but I did notice a sudden drop in stuttering very quickly when I started slowing down.

Hi Cheesepretzel. Thank you for advices. I also believe that talking more slowly and with a soft voice can help. Before, we used to talked very fast and not letting him finish his thought all the time. Now, I really try to talk to him very slowly and also listen more carefully when he has something to say. My speech therapist told me to exaggerate the punctuation, and not talk in infinite sentences. lol. I am happy that your girl was in the 80%! It was probably just a developmental thing?

My son stutter is very mild since a week. I am very happy about it. He have seems to control a bit more his stuttering in such short time? He does put his hand over his mouth though when he is about to stutter, and it kind of help him. He will have a small block, like the word is difficult to get out, and only repeat the first word 3-4 times, and it is not that frequent. It is worst when there is people listening to him and when he is about to explain me something difficult. Today, I am going for the first speech therapy! I am confident it will get better. Will keep you updated ;)

Good luck!

You are right, children can just start to stutter at anytime and usually this is common in children upto the age of 5. This is usually due to a development delay and in most cases will resolve over the coming months by itself. It can be extremely worrying for parents when their child starts to stutter and instinctively we want to help them, it can make us feel helpless :(. Its best to try and avoid finishing their sentences if they are struggling and try not to tell them to slow down or speak faster. It is best to be patient, allow them to get out what they are wanting to say, in their own time and maintain eye contact with them.

It's great that you sought help with a referral to a speech and language, and I can understand your decision to seek a private speech and language therapist given the increased waiting time.

It sounds very positive that the stutter appears to be improving, this is usually the case for children.

Thank you for your reply, MummyBear2352!

This is excellent advices! I really pray it resolves by itself or at least the speech therapist help!