My daughter will be 3 in August. She is very smart for her age. She speaks in full sentences and knows a lot more words than she should (according to what I've read). But recently she has been stuttering and it's been getting worse. Ex: if she is asking a question, she will say "Wh Wh Wh Wh What is that smell?" or she has said "What is D D D D I can't say Dominic" (her brother's name). To which I've answered, you can say Dominic, you just need to slow down. I think her brain just moves faster than her mouth and she gets stuck. I just want to make sure nothing is wrong. Does anyone know what the major issues are I should be looking for? She has a check-up scheduled around her birthday, just wasn't sure if I should call the doctor sooner.
This happened to my son when he was younger. I remember being extremely worried, I did take him to his Dr. who advised that is was temporary. You are correct that her brain is thinking faster then her mouth can translate. Like the other post said do not bring attention to it. My son stopped after a while and was put in to the gifted and talented program when he started school.
in working with children the past 25 years, I have found that most stuttering begins after age 2 & ends before age 3....usually.
Please don't reprimand her, try not to draw her attention to it.....& it should pass. If not, let the dr address it at her next regular checkup. & with that appt, please just hand the dr a note....don't express your concerns verbally! The more you draw attention to it.....the more angst she'll feel over it. Peace.....
Actually, with the repetition of that first syllable, I'd strongly recommend getting an eval from a speech pathologist.
"What is, What is, What is,"
"The, the, the, the,"
"Dominic went to the, Dominic went to the, to the, to the"
Are examples of a SUPER common repetitive speech thing most toddlers do as their minds race ahead of their ability to verbalize, but how your daughter is getting stuck on a single sound (Wh, wh, wh, wh), sometimes even just breaking away in frustration to use a synonym or voice her frustration (I can't say Dominic!) makes me think it may actually be a "true" stutter.
Best case in an eval, I'm totally wrong and it's just the normal mind racing thing...Worst case, you've got killer early intervention. AKA an eval would be win/win
Pretty normal!!! She is taking in so many words each day and she has to train her mouth how to keep up. It probably should only be a couple of months. Reminding her to slow down is probably the best thing and you are doing great.
One of my granddaughters, who was 3 at the time, actually was trying to copy another child who stuttered. I was worried about her because it was all of a sudden and she was doing it with words she's been saying for almost 2 years. One day my daughter brought my grandchildren and some friends over and I saw what was happening. The problem was it took forever to get my granddaughter to stop, almost a year.
My daughter had this same problem at about the same age and you are right about her mind going faster than her mouth.....the key is to slow down and think before speaking....you can help her by being calm and encouraging.
It has been 40 years since I went through this and my daughter got through that phase in a short time and did not have further problems.
just wanted to say my son did a little of this which was develpmental, lasted under a year then his fluency picked up. My nephew had a stronger stutter and did end up with a bit of early intervention, which ended up being a "Play" session with a therapist that was totally fun for him and showed his mom some good things to do to develop a fluent pattern to this speech, I can't think of what specificially they did, But i do know that drinking through small straws (think stir sticks as opposed to milkshake straws) helps develop muscles that are used in making certain sounds.
bottom line, you can wait until her check up with out any harm, and most likely it is typical but if you/the dr feel it isn't they can play a little test and find out what would help her most and usually it's free and fun.
It sounds very normal to me. Just like you said, their little brains are thinking faster than their mouths can move. My son went through the same thing and he is perfectly normal! The thought of speech evaluation, never even entered my mind.
Stuttering is an emotional break in the child's trust system. It has to be treated professionally.
I suppose you haven't seen The King's Speech.
You had better get her professional help right now before she becomes a lifelong stutterer and is afraid to speak in public or at school.
I think a lot of kids go through a stuttering stage at this age. Mine did and it didn't last. However, my brother actually did start stuttering (permanently) at around 3 yo. So, personally, I would just wait and see what her doctor says about it.
Definitely follow through with a speech eval.....
However, just want to throw out this interesting technique I learned from a Physical Therapist and Speech Therapist years ago at a seminar....
They had tremendously successful results with stutterers, all ages, by having them get down on all fours, like a baby learning to crawl, and play crawling games with them. Crawling on all fours forces the brain to communicate physically across both hemispheres...left and right brain have to sync to perform this task. And it helped reset the brain in verbal skills as well. They saw improvement rather quickly, in about a week.
It's free and won't hurt anybody.
Hope you find an answer....BTW, I started stuttering at this exact same age with the same exact issues..first syllables and family member names. But I did not have a family that cared to get me help so I suffered a lot through most of my life. Crawling and therapy has helped me.
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The Stuttering Foundation at www.stutteringhelp.org is a great source for information and help.
