Stammering

[stargirl1701]

DD1 is stammering at the moment. She is 2.8 years old. Is this a normal part of speech development or should we contact the HV for a SaLT referral.

Does it happen all the time or just when she is excited and rushing to get words out?

It's pretty frequent. It is increasing in frequency. It is longer when she is excited.

I don't work in the field but studied child acquisition of language and speech therapy as part of linguistics degree.

Have a chat with your health visitor but on the whole a lot of children go through a phase of stuttering and stammering around this age. Their brains are absorbing and noticing every little detail going on around them and they and want to tell you about all of it using this brilliant talking skill they love to practice! However their thought process and speech can't keep up and they just end up over loaded with information.

Don't make a fuss of it or draw attention to it. Give her a bit of time to get her words out and use positive language "yes, that's right. Clever girl". etc. Most children grow out of it once their brain gets a bit faster at processing information, but often it can stick if they're made to feel self concious about it.