my dd aged 2.5 has started to stammer

[rinol]

where do i go?I am worried it's going to get worse...please help...

At this age it's very common and usually a shortlived phase, so don't worry too much. However, if it hasn't improved in the next six months, ask your HV or GP for a referral to a speech therapist and don't take no for an answer. If a stammer is likely to develop into a long term problem, the early it is caught and treated, the better. But, like I said, at 2, stammering is common and not usually lasting. In the meantime, don't stress over it, especially in front of your dd, just stay calm, don't try to finish her sentences for her, just smile and wait for her to speak. I'm a stammerer, and I WISH my parents had helped me as a child, school wasn't fun. It'll probably disappear on it's own though.

Talk to your HV (as it might be worth getting on the list for a speech therapy appointment as they take a while!!!) but the general rules are to make sure that you keep eye contact with them whilst they talk to you (have an interested look on your face!), don't interrupt and try to slow down life a bit - be organised and try not to do the 'come on, come on - speed it up' things to her (impossible not to sometimes!) The other thing to watch for is other adults who mimic - you'd be surprised how many do this without realising or thinking about the affect on the child - my df,sil and one of my dh colleagues 'pretend stammered' with my ds and they truly didn't realise (until told quite sharply) that they were doing it. They of course were mortified when they realised that they were actually taking the pee out of a 3 yr old nervous little boy! Relax - it's very common and may well come and go for the next few years.

I had a mindee once who went through this too. Mum took him to a speak therypist and they were confident it would go again and assured her it was quite common. They told her to try and ignore it as much as possible and sure enough, one day we noticed it had gone. Put your mind at rest and take dd. Chin up!

thanx for all the advice...

My ds stammered when he was similar age rinol, it lasted a few months and then disappeared.
It felt that he had lots of ideas and was desparate to communicate but couldn't get the words out.
It is quite common at this age and I would wait a while before you start worrying.

Adults taking the pee out of my stammer had a huge effect on me as a child. It was mostly teachers that did it - b*stards! My mothers' way of dealing with it was pretending it didn't exist and telling me not to be so silly. Her speech therapist friend even told her I should be seeing a therapist, and she didn't do anything about it.

However, I will tell anyone who has a child that stammers that it's not the end of the world, even it if does develop into something more permanent. I'm a happy adult, I have friends, a husband, children and I get on with things.

My DS went through a phase of stammering for a couple of months when he was about 2.3. He seemed to stammer on certain words like in/on.

I trawled the threads on here and found that it is quite common at that sort of age, although tends to be boys more than girls for some reason, and usually passes without any intervention.

If you do a MN search on "stammering" you will find lots of similar stories and advice that will hopefully reassure you a bit.

My dd1 is a great talker and a quick thinker. She stammered from about this age onwards, and when she started in Reception we found it got worse. However, we talked to her teacher and decided to do nothing - which is what we had been doing anyway - and she's just turned five and it's vanished. It only happened when she was excited and you could see her mouth couldn't keep up with her brain! Funnily enough my mum stammers when she has something urgent to say. I wouldn't worry yet, just keep an eye on things - if your dd notices then maybe do something but our dd1 didn't even realise she did it (and no-one ever mimicked her).