Does your child stutter?

[lovecloud]

My 2.5 year old dd has started to stutter at the beginning of her sentences. It never happens midflow or if she replies without thinking. It usually happens when she starts a conversation.

It breaks my heart, it is getting worse and today for the first time she got so frustrated and could not get the next word out after "i", she was stuck on "i i i i i i i i i i i i" for so long that she took a deep breath and then signed and hugged me and started to cry. I felt so awful for her and do not know what to do.

I do not know how to deal with it, shall I ignore it or is there something I can say to her?

I myself suffered with a terrible stutter in my early teens and it caused alot of upset. I soon realised that if i just stopped, took a deep breath and then spoke as i breathed out I was fine. But you cant explain this to a child.

Her speech is fantastic for her age and people are always impressed when they hear her talk, she is very confident and happy. I just dont know why it has started. What should I do?

bump

I think this is very common for children of this age and does not necessarily mean its an actual stutter.

My dd (soon to be 3) does it. I think the advice is to be patient - don't fill in gaps for them. But i have to confess i do sometimes fill gaps for my dd - as you say i feel so sorry for her sometimes, i can't bare the tense silence whilst we wait for her words to come! Either i've got used to it, or my dd's has certainly improved in the last few months.

HTH!

lovecloud,sorry you're so upset.
I'm a speech and language therapist. Don't specialise in stuttering but obviously know the basics.
Off to bed now,but I'll post properly in the morning ok?
Just didn't want to leave this unanswered.

Don't worry,plenty of positive things you can do.

Speak tomorrow ok?

Hey lc. First- don't worry. This may be a short phase- quite common for transitory stutters to appear at 2ish apparently- or it may stick around for a while but it's going to be ok either way. You can and will deal with it, even with the horrid memories you have from your own childhood which, understandably, are making you feel worried for your baby. My twins both stutter a bit still at 6. One initially had a much worse stutter for a good few years but it's noticeably less now. My huge fear was that he would be teased at school but, amazingly, this hasn't been an issue and I've totally relaxed about it now, having been worried when it first appeared and then more so when it didn't disappear.
The key things to do with a child this age are

1. Slow your own speech right down and make sure anyone else she spends significant ampunts of time with does the same
2. Make sure her routine is ok- predictable is better, proper night's sleep is good
3. Try spending 5 mins or so per day giving her your undivided attention, following her lead as she shows you a special game or activity.

May be worth putting her name on the speech therapy list as well in case they're any good in your area. My son had a few sessions which were pretty useless but at least he liked the toys and games. We were told that he was a nice kid with a stutter- well dur!

Sorry meant to show you this link in case it's helpful.

Hattie-05 nice to know i am not alone. those few seconds that she is stuck feels like eternity and i guess the reason it hurts so much just brings me back to standing in the classroom trying to answer the teachers question and stuttering infront of the whole class. I dont remember anyone being horrible to me, its just the frustration.

mizmiz - thank you so much, I will check back here tomorrow to see your suggestions.

x

scrummymummy - thats great, thanks x

Ds has amazing speech and an amazing ability to remember things and wants to talk about concepts where he maybe can't get the tense right, or remember a persons name and so he stutters. For him it's excitment, coupled with trying to talk and still think at the same time.

I never had a stutter, so I don't have any hangups about it I just wait for him to get it out. I think your dd sounds the same. i think she got upset at not remembering what she wanted to say rather than upset with the stutter.

Ds will go "I wen...I went...I wen...oh mummy I just can't remember any more".

Both DSs did this between 2 and 3 as did a large number of their friends. None of them have any stuttering problems now.

it is common in young children

Lovecloud,scummymummy has given you a good link. This association is linked to the Michael Palinn centre which is undoubtedly the most well known in the Uk (assuming you are there too.)
Have a good read,I couldn't really add any more than this. Stammering/stuttering (interchangeable terms)is not my field so I am wary of getting too detailed.

I would however recommend the following...

1. Give your child time. Don't show your (inevitable) distress. If she is blocking (c-c-c-c-come for example) it may help to calmly acknowledge her difficulty ('My that's a tough word to say sometimes isn't it?')and then move on to something else.

2} Ring up your local speech/lang therapy department (number should be in the book or found through GP) and ask if they have a stammerinig specialist. You may even be able to self refer bypassing the GP or HV. It's worth gettting on the list for an assessment and advice.They take so long to come through anyway,and if you feel that the problem has resolved itself by the time the appt. comes around,you only have to ring and cancel.
I would recommend you pushing for an assessment with the specialist (if they have one) Most salts have a partic. field of interest/expertise.I wouldn't feel confident dealing with a stammerer and would pass then onto a colleague (my field is people with a learning disability who require a picture/sign system to communicate.)

3. A very familiar concept in this field is the 'iceberg theory' in which a stutter is compared to just this.The area above the waterline represents the actual stutter itself and the area below it (which is of course much larger) represents the anxiety,guilt and shame that often occur with a stutter (sounds like you unfortunately have experienced this.) A therapist will spend as much time (if not more) on this submerged part as she does the top part as we know feel that these negative feelings are more damaging than the actual stutter itself. Generally speaking true progress only seems to be made when a person is free of these nagative feelings (or helped to avoid acquiring them in the first place.)

Hope this has helped and that you have a better experience with a salt than poor old Scummymummy!