Should I worry about his stammer?

[sister]

My son was 3 last October and for quite a long time has had a stammer.
It seems to be worse when he is tired or is over excited but I don't know any other children with the same problem so I don't know whether to ignore it or take him to the GP.

He will start a sentence and get to a word and repeat it at least 10 times before he can get to the next word. It is really frustrating listening to him. Sometimes he gets so stuck that he just gives up and says 'I can't'.
My daughter who is 2 seems to be developing the same problem but I am 80% sure she is coping him.
Does anyone have any ideas what I should do as it is frustrating for him and getting me worried.

ks, Thanks for that information, glad to know I'm not alone. My ds was not late with his speech and as far as I know their is no family history of stammers. He does go to nursery part time so I shall have a word with them and make an effort to talk to him slower. I'll check out the web site too, thank you very much

My son stammered for a quite a long time between 2 and 3 years old. It is important not to ignore it, hoping that it will go away by itself. Many well meaning GPs, health visitors and even speech therapists suggest to wait, they say that children will grow out of it. The reality is that stammer can be treated very effectively at a young age and that it is better to get help as soon as possible, especially if you have another stammerer in the family. Most NHS speech therapists are not qualified to deal with childhood stammering and they just give general advice. My advice, if you live in London and you are worried about your child is to contact the Michael Palin Centre for Childhood Stammering (Farringdon tube station). You need a referral from your GP to your local NHS speech therapist. Then you need to ask you speech therapist to refer you to the Michael Palin Centre. There is a very long waiting list at the centre (it is NHS and it is completely free). It took us a year from the time when we first contacted our GP to the first appointment at the Michael Palin Centre. But it was worth it. Our son has stopped stammering.

My 6 yr old dd stammers when she has made a leap in progress, such as going to school. This thread reminds me that a couple of months ago she was stammering a lot and now she has no stammer at all. Maybe it will return if something stressful happens, such as our upcoming move, but I'm confident that eventually she will be fine.

Thanks for the advice. I am in the middle of getting a referal. I don't know anything about speech therapy and although I'm sure he will grow out of it I'd like a second oppinion.