26 month son stuttering out of nowhere

[OliveDK]

Hi Parents,

My 26 month old son started stuttering a few days ago and has been going on for about 3 days now. His stuttering mainly involves first syllable prolongation and word blocks. He has a hard time getting out words sometimes and his entire face turns red because he tenses up trying to get the word out. It's very hard to watch. It happens to probably 5-6 sentences out of the 10. This literally came out of the blue. Just before all this, he was a quick and proficient speaker and hit all his milestones early. People would be amazed by how well he spoke. Starting at 24 months, he only spoke in full sentences. He was great at reciting all his alphabets and numbers. He loved singing songs. All the studies that I read online say that stuttering that involves repetition of a full word (i.e "I I I I I want a cookie) is associated with a developmental stage which is normal and common in kids 2-5. However, I'm concerned because my toddler doesn't do that. His stuttering characteristics seem to fall under the "atypical/abnormal/red flag list." I added an image and marked off all that applies to us right now. My dad does have some stuttering problems where he repeats words a few times but his is mainly due to his impatient personality. Has any parent had toddlers that stuttered similar to my child and it turned out to be just a phase as well? Please advise. Worried sick right now. Thank you!

The average age to start stammering I believe is about 3

My DS started stuttering at a similar age. He had a block of speech therapy before starting school and it stopped gradually after that. Don’t panic!

It's very common at this age. Their brains are developing super quickly and they learn new words quicker than their mouth muscles can learn how to say them.
It will resolve, usually quite quickly. Best ignore it. Don't comment on it or try to finish their words / guess what they're trying to say. If they seem upset, then reassure them but otherwise don't mention it.

My ds was around 2.5 ish I think when he started stuttering. It was the same thing- that first word/sound was too hard to get out. He used to stamp his foot to kind of force it out. It seemed to come and go but got particularly bad over Xmas aged about 6. We referred him to speech therapy ourselves and they gave us some advice. We tried their advice which was to acknowledge the stutter/bumpy word and he got so much better- he didn’t end up needing a block of therapy. He is almost ten now and has the occasional ‘bumpy word’ but it’s not really noticeable and is just when he’s excited and has lots to try and say.

My son had phases of this at a similar age. I panicked and even called a speech therapist. But after a few weeks it would stop. He's older now and has perfect speech (if not a bit too loud)

It's very common. Lots of children at that age get a sudden brain development which means their thoughts become more complex but their motor skills haven't quite caught up. DS stammered a lot at that age for about a year iirc. He just had too much to say. Still does.

My son did the same at the same age. It was the ‘red flag’ type of stuttering too. We got him some speech therapy and it cleared up very quickly. Don’t worry. I panicked but didn’t need to. Even though there was a minor issue it resolved and now he has no problems at all.

My daughter was three when her brother was born and she developed a stutter but we ignored it and it disappeared.

I developed a stutter around 2½ years old. Lasted for about 18months. Parents just ignored it and it went away. Don't recall doing it myself, but was told it was every other word.

My dd had a stutter for about four months age 3. It was accompanied by tics etc. It was very severe.... It disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

There is a helpful info sheet here and we also played more taking turn games and watched less TV. Quiet, calm days with not too many activities. If her stammer comes back in the future I won't feel as panicked, but I remember being so worried when hers first developed

stamma.org/get-support/parents