Stuttering....PamT or any other moms...please help!
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Stuttering....PamT or any other moms...please help!
My ds, who just turned 4 in March, has began to stutter. I noticed it about two weeks ago, and it seems to be getting worse. He only stutters the first word of the sentence, and does it almost always when the first word is "I". He'll stutter "I" or whatever other word like 6 times in a row, then squeeze his eyes closed in frustration, put his hand in his mouth, and then try again. He eventually finishes his sentence. He usually stutters when he is first starting a conversation or asking a question. Once we are into the conversation, there is no more stuttering. He does it a lot when he gets excited or anxious to say something.
Could this be a phase he will eventually come out of?
Should I start him in speech therapy? And if so, would it be okay to wait about 2 months, as we will be traveling out of state in a few weeks and will be gone about 2 weeks? Meaning there would be a break in his therapy classes.
Should I "wait and see" if he does outgrow it?
I am lost, I asked my mom for advice, but she never had this experience with any of her kids. Any advice you all may have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance...
Amy, I'm in the midst of writing a huge paper that is due tomorrow. The only reason I even saw this is I am lurking and taking a "procrastination breaL"--LOL. Anyway, I will try to get back to you on Thursday or Friday after I have turned in the *&^$#$ paper and gotten some sleep, so I can think and respond coherently. Just wanted you to know that I saw your post.
Thanks Pam, whenever you have time...btw, my email is moonhour@earthlink.net if you would rather send it there when you can. Thanks so much and good luck on your paper!
Amy,
I really think this has been accentuated by Mike being gone. I have also noticed he has been stuttering more, and the longer the guys have been gone the more I notice it. I do think he has to work on his annuciations (.... is that the word?) but the stuttering is probably a phase. Now, you know I don't have personal experience with it, but I've spend time with Adrian and this is just what I've observed. 
Don't worry. My older dd stuttered and my son stuttered around the same age. Their brains are going so much faster than their mouths can form words.
Tell him to stop. Take a breath. Think about what he wants to say. Take another breath. Then say it.
I was worried also. But this too shall pass!
Thanks Annie, that gives me a ray of hope!
Im going Anon here.
Stuttering is one of my problems.....Even though I am an adult this is a truly embrassing subject to me.
I don't think it has to do anything with speech, it's all the matter of the brain is going faster than what the mouth can tell it.
My Husband will at times, smile at me when I am trying to tell him something and I start to stutter, he will sometimes say "Slow down" lol!
And I usually won't stutter.
Some letters your son might be stutterin on (these are mine here are L's S's some T's, W's, C's) Now if I sit and think "Im gonna stutter" before I say soemthing I will. If I just blurt it out (not too fast) Im ok...I won't stutter.
I get looks, (some people ADULTS look at me as if I am ignorant) I get teased sometimes it used to really bother me, I stuttered when I was a kid, and I quit, and it hit me again when I was 17. And hasn't quit yet.
Even though I have a bright side to look at, I used to, I would not read to my children, I was afraid I would stutter, my SOn once told me "It's OK Mom, if you need help I will help you, please read to me" I would of course.
But really, I don't think this is a "problem" with your son, just tell him to slow down, and I guarntee he will quit most of the stuttering HTH!!
Sometimes my 3 yr old DD will stutter when she gets really really excited. I think it's cute when she does it. It's only on occasion though. So far I'm not too worried.
Little kids seem to get excited easily and like the others said, their brains are going faster than they can talk. Kind of like me typing lol...I think so fast that my hands cant keep up and I end up using backspace alot lol.
I am interested in seeing what Pamt has to say though, since this is her category
Thanks so much for your advice and experiences! My ds doesn't seem to stutter any particular letters, just the first letter of the first word of his sentence/question. And I do feel it is because he is overly excited or his brain is thinking faster than he can verbally express. Thats why I'm curious to see what PamT has to say..as she is a speech therapist, hopefully she would know whether this is something that needs to be corrected through speech therapy.
My son started stuttering when he was about 2 1/2, then he stopped, until around age 3 1/2, then it began again, and got worse fairly quickly, until it got to the point of him barely being able to get a sentence out. He too would squeeze his eyes shut, his neck muscles would tense up, and sometimes, he would even lose his breath trying to speak, it was extremely difficult to see him go through, and very heartbreaking. I too was told it was a phase, until he started having the "secondary" symptoms, which are the eye squeezing, neck muscles tightening symptoms, I was told that those were signs of possible severe stuttering, and that he needed to see a speech therapist. So, he was in therapy twice a week for over 2 years, and took probably the whole first year before we saw any improvement, now he is 8, and is stutter free! I was also told by his therapist, to NOT draw attention to his stuttering, like do not tell him to stop and slow down, but instead, to wait quietly and patiently for him to complete his sentence, no matter how long it takes or how hard it is to watch, and then, once he gets the statement out, repeat it back to him slowly. Also, we had to practice at home with not rushing our schedule, and also, learning how to speak slower, and never interrupt eachother. It was a difficult time, and I am so thankful that the stuttering has stopped, if you want to email me and I can tell you more about our experience, my address is IDmommy97@hotmail.com.
Jodes, I went ahead and sent you an email...
My friend is a speech therapist, and she says that waiting a couple of months is fine, but if he is still doing the same kind of thing when you get back, it would probably be a good idea to take him for a speech evaluation.
There is a stage of stuttering that many children, especially boys, go through during those preschool years called "normal dysfluency", and it's quite possible that this is what your son is experiencing, and he will outgrow it soon. However, his signs of frustration, the eye squeezing, etc. may be cause for concern, and it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out, just in case.
In the meantime, try not to call too much attention to the stuttering, but if HE brings it up or is very visibly frustrated, you don't need to ignore it either. Just treat it as you would anything else -- be as natural as possible, and don't let him see any signs that you are worried about it, because if he picks up on that he may worry about it himself, and that can cause normal dysfluency to turn into stuttering.
Also, try to make sure you're giving him plenty of time to speak, don't rush him, try to give him eye contact when he's speaking to you and wait patiently for him to finish what he wants to say before you respond, etc. It's also a good idea to try and model a slower rate of speech yourself when you're talking to him.
The other thing you might consider -- go ahead and take him in for an evaluation now, and therapy could begin after you get back if the therapist deems it necessary. It may be that she won't want to do direct therapy with him at all, but work more with you, in teaching you ways to help him, etc.
Hope this information helps.
Thank you so much Kate for taking the time out to post that info. I think I am going to take him in just to be checked out. Thanks!!
No problem, Amy. My friend has the link to this page, so if you have any more questions, post them and she'll tell me how to respond. She's a speech therapist in an elementary school and helps kids from preschool thru sixth grade I believe. She's had lots of experience, so yell if you need more help!
Good luck!
Amy,
Kate and Jodes have given you excellent advice and saved me a lot of typing. I do have to disagree strongly with those who suggested telling him to slow down. Don't ever do that!! When you tell a child to slow down, take it easy, think about what he's saying, etc. you are drawing attention to the problem and putting more communicative stress on him. Stress is a major root of stuttering and feeds the vicious cycle. Everyone is disfluent ("stutters") approximately 5% of the time. Thing is we don't react to it and we move on when we get stuck on a word. There is a theory of stuttering called the Diagnosogenic Theory that suggests that stuttering doesn't truly start until we take these disfluent moments that everyone has and draw undue attention to them.
As Jodes said, try to keep your whole family routine unhurried---lay out clothes the night before, leave 15 minutes earlier than you need to to be anywhere,etc. A rushed life can lead to rushed speech. Developmental disfluency is VERY common in 2-4 y/o kids and occurs 4x more often in boys. Both of my boys did it. My youngest started to blink his eyes when he would get stuck on a word and I was freaking out. I called one of my profs from college and he got me to calm down and it did indeed turn out to be a developmental thing.
I would suspect that your DS is just going through some developmental disfluency. As Crystal mentioned, stress and crisis such as dad being gone can really cause a problem. Children are alo more likely to stutter during time of high excitement like birthdays, vacation, and Christmas. Soemtimes children also stutter because of a slight articulation or language delay. Once that underlying problem is addressed then the stuttering resolves on its own. The opposite can be true too. Sometimes children who are very verbally advanced stutter because they have so much to say and not quite the fine motor coordination in their mouths to organize it all.
I'm providing an excellent link for some parental suggestions written by my professor from college. He is a nationally known figure in stuttering research. I would personally recommend implementing these suggestions and waiting another month or two. If he still seems to be having trouble and/or it gets much worse before then and he begins to comment on it, express frustration, etc., then take him in for an evaluation. Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope this helps!
http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/comdis/kuster/Parents/Parentsinfo.html
P.S., Anon, have you ever had speech therapy? I would highly recommend it. It will do wonders for you and improve your self-esteem dramatically. There are also national support groups for stutterers. I used to attend one regularly in college. The participants work on strategies to improve fluency and gripe, vent, and encourage one another. I would suggest that you might check them out.
Here's a link to see if you can find a chapter near you and they could hook you up with a speech therapist
http://www.nsastutter.org/
Pam thanks so much!!! I've realized there are several things that I need to correct about my manner of speaking with ds.
I need to slow down how fast I'm speaking to him. I need to let him completely finish his sentence at all times, and pause before responding. I need to "slow down" the pace around the house. I need to not draw his attention to the stuttering when it happens. ETC...
The link you provided with info written by the professor was unbelievably helpful to me. I now am beginning to get a grasp on this, and what I can do to help my ds.
Thank you so much Pam!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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