2.5 year old stuttering quite a lot, anyone else have experience with this?

[DarkGreen]

He seems to go through phases where he stutters and then he stops and seems to be saying more so I was putting it down to developmental, but now he seems to be doing it more than not and for longer periods like a few weeks so far and counting.

Is this normal or is there anything I can do to help?

I think this may be fairly normal at this age. DD did this a lot. I think it's when their ideas are working faster than their ability to get words out.

She still doesn't speak well when she's excited and she's now 4! She cuts the end of words off. I'm not worried because I hear friends of hers do the same.

Does your DS go to nursery? If he does, you could talk to them about it. Experienced nursery staff are excellent for knowing what's to be expected at this age.

Yes. My toddler did this. Their little brains are just going faster than their mouths. We didn't end theirs sentences for them but encouraged them to take a breath and try again.

I'm a speech therapist, and I can tell you it's very normal for young children to stammer. It's to do with the "demands" of wanting to talk and how fast they want to talk versus and their limited vocab/language. The vast majority of children grow out of it.

Ours was exactly the same. Periods of stammering on and off until he was 5!
He's nearly 7 now and hasn't had it in ages.

Definitely when he was trying to express more complex sentences and ideas, so a developmental thing.

Horrible to see tho.

DS1 had this and was referred to speech therapy classes. He was just over 2 and we did a course of 6 group sessions. The speech therapist got us to do some exercises repeating the consonants in a sentence eg "Danny Dog eats his Dinner" or "Henry Hippo is Hungry". He stopped doing it but I was never sure if he would have outgrown it anyway.

By the time he started school his speech was good, although he was very shy so hardly ever spoke.

If you're worried, have a chat with your Health Visitor.

My child did this at a similar age. I was advised to try to stop asking them so many questions to give their brain time to think what to say! When I actually stopped and listened to what I was saying, I was constantly asking him questions, so I tried to simply narrate what we were doing rather than asking him questions about what we were doing.

Also had this with my DS. He was referred to speech therapy (at the time, I think he had to be 3) and they gave us advice and exercises (never complete their sentences, let them lead the conversation i.e. don't ask so many questions, just let them talk about what they want to talk about). It stopped within 6 months or so.

@EmmaGrundyForPM

DS1 had this and was referred to speech therapy classes. He was just over 2 and we did a course of 6 group sessions. The speech therapist got us to do some exercises repeating the consonants in a sentence eg "Danny Dog eats his Dinner" or "Henry Hippo is Hungry". He stopped doing it but I was never sure if he would have outgrown it anyway.

By the time he started school his speech was good, although he was very shy so hardly ever spoke.

If you're worried, have a chat with your Health Visitor.

This is an outdated approach (no offense intended PP), so I wouldn't recommend trying anything like this OP. 2.5 is very young, and this is very normal, no need to do anything. Best thing is to not draw attention to it or make a big deal.

My ds is 3 and a half and occasionally stutters and stammers. He gets overexcited trying to tell me stuff and seems to get stuck on the same word or phrase. I get him to take a deep breath, and then try again slowly. He gets there eventually. It's just his brain running faster than his language skills can keep up with him.

Completely normal in preschoolers. The best thing you can do is to slow down your own speech to encourage him to match your space, leave lots of time for him to finish his sentences and not draw attention to it.

If it’s still going on in 6 months, he starts to notice it and become upset by it or you have any family history of persistent stammering then you should get in touch with your local speech therapy team.

My child had this when little and I was concerned, as I had an aunt and uncle who both had stammers. My aunts was severe. However I did discover this is common in young children, my child did grow out of it. For anyone who has a child with a stammer or has a stammer as an adult, speech therapy is very good nowadays. I know someone with a stammer as an adult, who is now much improved after speech therapy. Try not to worry, I do think your child will grow out of this.

Children can grow out of it. But I would recommend speaking to your HV and asking to be referred to speech therapy as well. My youngest child had a stutter/stammer and it still comes and goes now. He's six.

My DS had a stammer as a toddler. First appeared not long after his second birthday, then was on and off for a while, but eventually was there permanently. We did speech therapy which cured it, but we waited for 2 years on an NHS waiting list. I would get in touch with the speech therapy team now and get on the waiting list. Generally they will put you on the waiting list if the stammer has been present for more than 6-12 months. It could be a 'developmental' stammer that clears up on it's own but it may need intervention.

Yes, and as a pp states, family history and your child's experience of the stammer is important. If they are noticing it/upset by it, I believe current advice is to acknowledge it. Otherwise they just feel confused.