Stuttering - Oklahoma City,OK

hello! I'm a mom and a speech-language pathologist. How old is your son? Stuttering can be normal right around 2-4 year age range- when kids are developing higher language skills such as putting sentences together- and their mouth is trying to keep up with their thoughts. If this is the case- I would let him work through it! I would suggest NOT interrupting him. Give him your attention and eye contact- and some patience to let him get through his communication. Then, when he is done - you can respond positively and repeat his message back to him to help model slow and smooth speech back to him. Letting him work through it and not interrupting him will allow him to learn how to become more fluent. Also- interrupting can actually make him more self conscious about speaking- increasing his stuttering.

If you feel like this is not just part of normal development- then having a speech therapist do an evaluation may be worth it. If he is older than three- you can call your local school district. A speech pathologist will be able to tell you if this is just what we consider developmentally normal- or if it is a true stuttering difficulty- it all depends on what the stuttering looks like, his age, the amount of stuttering, and other factors.

good luck!
_Nadine

My son started stuttering right at 3.. He'll do it for a few weeks then stop for a few months.. He's actually doing it again (he's 3.5) His pediatrician said it's VERY normal (I got worried when I first heard him doing it). There brains aren't keeping up fast enough with what there trying to say. He said to say the word that your child is trying to spit out (IE: when my son goes "do do do do do" I cut him off immediately and say "DO".. You know the word there trying to spit out so just say it for them so they can continue on with there sentence... :0)

My little brother was about between four and six when he started to stutter. I believe the cause of it was alot of drama and problems in the family. He would do it when he was excited and sometimes when he wasn't. My mom said just ingore it and don't call attention to it (because us older sisters would sometimes give him a hard time about it). The stuttering went on for a little while, and occasionally my dad would tell him to calm down and just relax and talk normal. This worked and he got over it and has never had any more problems with this and he is now 12 years old.

my son started at age 3. He studders from time to time now (he's 5.5), but we were told to ignore it. When he gets excited or if he knows the answer is going to be "no", but he still wants to ask, he tends to studder. From time to time, I'll tell him to take a deep breath and then think about what he wants to say and then say it. I'm not sure if that works better or not. He tends to get it out regardless. I was told it's just a phase and he'll outgrow it and that it's more common among boys than it is among girls.