A.S. asks from Avondale, AZ on November 26, 2007
Daughter's Brain Short-circuiting?
Hi. I have a daughter who will be 3 in January. She loves to talk and has always been repititious but about 5 days ago she started repeating the last syllable of her final word. For instance, if she said "Mickey" (as in Mickey Mouse) she will say "Mickey key key key key". Not only does it irritate me because she does it with everything she says, but it has me terrified that something is going wrong in her brain. Does anyone know anything about this kind of speech pattern? Have any of your children done this and is it something I should worry about? Is it a phase or a signal of something more going on? Thanks for any help and advice!
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So What Happened?™
Thanks to everyone for the amazing response! Because of each of you, I was able to not panic and worry so much but take it one day at a time. Someone mentioned the stress trigger and I think that's what it was - My daughter had taken an extended trip (1 week) to spend with my parents in Prescott, which is the longest she's ever been away from us. She was fine at first but as the week wore on this started. After we came home it only got worse except, interestingly, when my sister would come visit. Then she would speak normally! Well, last weekend I was going out of town for the weekend and both of my children were going to spend 4 days at my parents' house in Prescott. We just expected her speech to get worse until she was home again and settled. Oddly, the reverse happened and she no longer does it. It's all a mystery to me but I'm glad to hear that it's normal and I'm so happy to see that she's not doing it anymore. It doesn't mean it won't happen again when something else stresses her and triggers it, but I'll know more for when that time comes. Thanks again to everyone!!
Featured Answers
D.P. answers from Denver on November 27, 2007
My kids did that and it was a phase!! Once I stopped reacting to it they stopped. Their vocabulary was double everyone elses.
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D.H. answers from Flagstaff on November 27, 2007
That is a stage that kids can go through. i wouldn't worry but my mom is a speech pathologist and she "may" be able to tell you if you need to have her go see the SP at the school she goes to. Her email address is ____@____.com In the subject box use D. and speech.
3 moms found this helpful
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D.H. answers from Flagstaff on November 27, 2007
That is a stage that kids can go through. i wouldn't worry but my mom is a speech pathologist and she "may" be able to tell you if you need to have her go see the SP at the school she goes to. Her email address is ____@____.com In the subject box use D. and speech.
3 moms found this helpful
D.P. answers from Denver on November 27, 2007
My kids did that and it was a phase!! Once I stopped reacting to it they stopped. Their vocabulary was double everyone elses.
3 moms found this helpful
J.A. answers from Denver on November 30, 2007
I also think it is just a phase but to be sure if you are too stressed just see a doctor, or email Danica's mom as she advised you . I just wanted to say that I thought Josie's response that it may be tourettes syndrome was insensitive and your child definatly doesn't have it. I messaged her to that effect too. We moms have enough to be stressed about besides thinking our child may have some speach problem so relax and be patient waiting for this to smooth out and I wish you the best of luck.
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L. answers from Denver on November 26, 2007
You must have taught old kids, because speech problems are very common with young children. (My son, 5yrs old now, still has a hard time with certain sounds and at 3 yrs old would leave out part of the word. Fishing was ishing). They can sometime stutter or have difficutlting with certain sounds. Another thing it could be, if anything else has happen in the last few weeks, such telling her your moving, somebody passing away, or maybe it just for attention. She is not even 3 yet, so relax, I wouldn't worry about touretts. If you are really concerened talk to the doctor, I would dare say 95% of the people on this site have little or no child development or medical training, and I only have a very small amount.
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H.O. answers from Denver on November 26, 2007
Hi A.~
We recently had the Center for Hearing, Speech, and Language come to our preschool to talk about child development. The speaker mentioned that many children have a stuttering phase that lasts up to six months between the ages of 3 and 6. Their Web site (on the Speech Therapy page) has some additional information and a few warning signs. They also have a phone number listed for a telephone consultation. Their home page is:
http://www.chsl.org/flash.html
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K.M. answers from Denver on November 27, 2007
Hi A.,
My 3 year old went through a stuttering stage. When she was a new three she stumbled over words and repeated the ending sounds 2 or 3 times. It worried me and my daughter who would sometimes cover her mouth and cry in frustration. After some internet research and a chat with my pediatrician, I was somewhat relieved. In 3 year olds, it seems, stuttering is relatively common and short lived.
My daughter is now 3 and a half and will only now and again stumble over a word or two.
The advice I got was not to bring attention to the stuttering as that will cause the child to be self-concious. I too am a former teacher turned SAHM so that made sense to me.
When my daughter really seemed stuck on a word, I would sometimes offer up the word or reassure her she was doing fine and those strategies worked for us.
Hope this helps!
K.
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J.J. answers from Phoenix on November 26, 2007
A.: my sincere appologies. below is the response to Jessicas comment. the other moms are right. we have a lot of things to be afraid of these days and no one needs to have one more thing to worry about. but ultimately we, as moms, know when something is different with our kids and it is our job to find out what is wrong and to try to fix it. I was not trying to be insensitive, and most importantly i was not diagnosing your childs problem. i am sorry if that upset you or any of the other moms. i do know that if my child were acting differently that i would be concerned as you are. i just dont think this is the place to be catty and start throwing mud. yes, we are women and that is our nature, but i know that i am a bit more mature and dont think personal attacks are effective. but then we are all different. i think that everyone here is very helpful and sharing . i know that i personally take every response into consideration when i have a question. i can see what that person is trying to say regardless if its what i was looking for or not and i appreciate each and every one of you.
To: Jessica A Date: Sat. Dec. 01, 2007 Subject: Re: Kid that had repeated last syllables
there was not much information given and that was my first thought. i am not here as a proffessional advice giver/ nurse. i am here as a mom. as a nurse i cannot diagnose a condition i can only give my opinion based on my experience and help the health care team come up with a plan of care. i do have expereince with children with tourettes. i fostered a tourettes child for 2 yrs. and he had not been diagnosed until he started repeating syllables at age 5. it progressed to much more within months. In my expereince not all disease processes begin or end the same nor do they progress at the same rate. every person is different as is the disease. if she had given more information as to what her pediatrician has done and ruled out maybe it would have been different. i am truly sorry i hurt your feelings or any one elses for that matter. it was not my intention. as it was not my intetion to "diagnose". I am sorry you misunderstood that part.i just put that out there for further consideration, considering there was not much information given. if the child definately doenst have tourettes, then i am so happy for the child. no child deserves to be ill but that is one of the most devastating things a child could have. i just know that Justin had a lot of behavioural problems and that was the first "different " thing that i noticed about him. And it could have been a combination of all the things that were wrong with the poor child that manifested itself as repeating syllables. medicine is not black and white. sometimes there are grey areas. grey areas that are hard to understand.but again , that is the expereince that i had and i offered my opinion with no intention of harming anyone.
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M.C. answers from Las Vegas on January 27, 2008
Hi A.,
It may be in your best interest to see a Speech Therapist. I am a Speech Therapist myself and it is difficult to determine what may or may not be going on with your child just by a description. You may want to go to your local school to find out where their Head Start or Child Find program is. These programs are usually provided for free and are for children who are under Kindergarten age.
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