Is This the Beginning of Stuttering?

My pediatrician said that if it's repeating a whole word, it's not a concern. It's when they repeat a sound and have trouble getting the whole word out when it's something you want to look into. What's basically happening is his brain is going a mile a minute with all of his thoughts and his mouth can't keep up. My pedicatrician said a speech pathologist friend told him that he should NOT tell his son to "slow down" because that can get frustrating for the child, but he confessed to me that he didn't listen to his friend and would just tell his son to slow down, which is what my husband does when my son starts to stutter. My son is 3.5 and now that I think about it, I haven't heard him do it for a few months.

This is normal for many 3 year olds. Especially ones with large vocabularies. A friend of mine is a speech pathologist and her 3 year old did this. It went away, but the mom was alittle embarraced because she was a speech pathologist but she also new it was normal behavior for a three year old.

My son was the same. I knew his brain was going a mile a minute and his mouth was trying to catch up. I also asked him to slow down and it would occur less till it finally went away maybe a year or so later. My mom was worried becasue she stuttered till 3rd grade. She wanted me to take him to a dr quick, I asked the dr should I worry and she said not at all. Just be patient when he tries to get the words out, he'll be fine.

Hi- It sounds totally normal to me. Both my girls went through a phase where they did this. Especially my firstborn who was very verbal w/high vocabulary at a young age. I think their brain just gets ahead of their ability to speak. I wouldn't even say anything to him about it, he'll get over it once he matures a little.

My best friend is a speech/language pathologist and when my sons did this exact same thing, I asked her professional opinion. She said if it's a whole word, it is not considered true stuttering it usually not a cause for concern. She suggested I do things to show him I am listening and offering my complete attention, such as putting down the dish I am washing and looking right at him while he is speaking without getting impatient. Also, she said it is important to model "wait time" before jumping into answer his question. When he finally gets out "Can I have some milk?" then YOU take a breath, and rather slowly say, "You would like more milk? Sure, I'll help you get it." This just models the concept of NOT hurrying or interrupting in a conversation, and makes communication feel less frantic and urgent to him. It also models reflective listening so he knows he has been heard and understood. (But nagging him to "slow down!" will only feel discouraging for him, like one more interruption that keeps him from saying what he wants to say.)
If you are still concerned or notice other things that worry you, consider calling your local school district and arranging a free or low-cost evaluation. You are so right, it's much better to intervene sooner rather than later. But, I strongly suspect your son is in the range of normal and as he feels less frantic about getting his words out, he will be able to arrange and control his speech better.
Best wishes!

My son started mild stuttering around 2 years old, too. It was always the beginning of a sentence. "You you you wanna play with me?" It actually lasted a few months, then passed. Now, he's almost 4 and he went through a spell of it again a couple of months ago. It lasted a few months, now it's stopped again. I noticed with my son it was when he was excited and couldn't spit it out fast enough. I know it's very common, but I don't know what signs you should look for that it may be a bigger problem. I'd wait it out a couple of months, maybe call your pediatrician and just ask what they think.

My daughter did this too. It was like she was too excited to get out what she had to say and started to get hung up on one word. I would just tell her to slow down and start again, and she'd usually get it out. She will be 4 this September and she hasn't done it in a while. It's just a phase, their brains are working like sponges absorbing SO much at this age. The mouth can't quite catch up LOL. Don't worry.

For what it's worth, my children all did that for a while, and almost all my granddaughters have done that, and there are no stutterers among them. I have always put it down to the mouth and the brain not quite being in sync for a little while. It always seemed as if they "announced" that they had something to say, but then had to stop and sort through their brains to pull it out. If you really find yourself more concerned, of course, feel free to ask your doctor about it!

My understanding is that this is totally normal and is not stuttering. When kids actually stutter, their faces clench up and turn red and they truly can't get the words out. I believe this is just a phase. . . I certainly hope so anyway as my three year old son does it too!

Hi,
Great letters about how typical this is. Good advice about listening and waiting. Please do not suggest he slow down, as this calls too much attention to his speech. One thing you can do is monitor your own sentence length and rate of speech. Research show that your child is processing tons of language and modelling the sentence length and rate of speech of the person he's talking to. So you can be so helpful by shortening overlong sentences and slowing the speed of your speaking by just a little bit. It's an amazing opportunity to watch a child match your slowdown, allowing his brain to catch up with his output. Also, even though repeated words and sounds are typical in child development, I would suggest you consider checking in with the school system's speech/language pathologist if you notice that your son is very frustrated with his repetitions. Frustration may be a sign that more help is needed.

M.,

Early intervention might be a very good idea, but given the timing of his stuttering (being tired) I'd say he's just too smart and his little mouth and brain aren't connecting that early in the morning. I had a nephew with the same problem and he's 14 now and didn't continue the stuttering problem. Check with your pediatrician and see what he/she has to say!! I know that Ogden has a speech program with early intervention being at age 4 (niece on the other side of the family is enrolled right now). Maybe check with your local elementary school to see if they know of how to make contact there. My sister-in-law took her daughter in for testing at age three and they tested her speech and her hearing. Then after her 4th birthday they checked her again and still showed the speech delay and enrolled her in their class (she loves it!!).

Good luck!

I don't know anything about stuttering, but my son did this when he had big bursts in vocabulary after traveling. It was as if his mouth had not caught up with his mind yet. My nephew also did this and my brother, who is a physician, said at the time kids who are more artistic (whatever side of the brain is dominant in those cases) experience this. Still I would call your pediatrician if you are concerned.

My son use to do this alot at that age...he is 4 now and it has gotten so much better. When I had asked my doctor about it he said that was normal and that I might ask him to slow down or take a breath and start over. He did it more when he was excited or reved up. There was no pattern it wasn't specific words or anything like that. I know this sounds weird and might have nothing to do with it but now that my son LOVES to sing and sings all the songs on the radio (or tries to sing them) I noticed he doesn't get as easily worked up when talking. I wouldn't worry about it maybe mention it to your doctor at his next check up but should be ok.

Just have him slow down. It may just be that his mind is running ahead of his mouth. If it continues, do take him to the doctor.

I remember our daughter playing with her speaking voice in all types of ways differnet times in her toddler years. Especially after being around or over hearing interesting sentence structures, accents. stuttering etc.. She was an extremely early talker with a large vocabulary too.

I remember Carly Simon saying she was a stutterer from the beginning of her talking. She said she could not get through any sentences. Her mother had her sing instead of talking.

I really hate to be an alarmist, but your son's phrase stuttering made me think of something I'm dealing with with my daughter. Especially since you said you notice it mostly when he's tired, or waking up. My ten year old dd has recently been diagnosed with absence seizures, and phrase stuttering was one of the things she used to do. For years we knew there was something not quite right with her, but could never find anything that fit her symptoms, because they were all very mild. Then someone suggested absence seizures, also known as petit mal seizures or staring seizures. There's no convulsing with this type of seizure, just a brief zoning out that is very easy to miss, and there is no awareness of anything happening for the child, time just sort of skips for them. Your son probably is just fine, but I know I would have loved to have known about absence seizures years ago, so I thought I'd bring it to your attention, just in case.

No its not. When kids begin to learn how to form sentences, they want to make sure it come out right.. so they will pause, and repeat what they've said while trying to figure out what they're going to finish it with - Around age four, he will be more confident and more mature with the sentences and won't have to think as hard. It comes with practice .

Don't worry! This so normal, especially for kids with good early language skills. Every time they start to hit a growth spurt with learning new words, concepts, etc. they tend to stutter. This will happen on and off for a couple of years, usually from 2 1/2 or so to 4-ish.

Now if he is still having what seems like significant stuttering problems when he is about to enter Kindergarten. Go see someone. It never hurts to mention it to your doc at the next visit either, just to be on the safe side.

If it makes you feel any better, I have three kids and two of the three (the little one is not even 2 yet) stuttered significantly off and on from 2 to 4. They are both in the gifted and talented programs and are flourishing without any stutter now (one is in Pre-K and the other in 4th grade).

Good luck.

i would talk to his doctor about it. it doesnt sound like stuttering to me but then again i never heard it when it firsts starts. if your doctor thinks it is stuttering then ask him who he recommends to help with it.

It's very common at his age. His brain going faster than he can process it into speech. When he does this, just have him stop, think about what he wants to say, then try again. Don't make a big deal of it, but it's a good habit for him to start learning.

However, if the repeated words seem slurred together, like "ca-a-a-an I have some mii-iilk" it could be more of an indication of a stutter, and you might want to talk to the pediatrician or get him assessed

My 2 year old is doing this too (mild word hang-ups), as well as my 13 year-old did (his was intense/stuttering). Being a teacher I asked questions about it to the speech pathologist and read on the topic, it suggesting rephrasing, modeling language and breathing calmly before talking. Suppose-of-ly it can prolong the stuttering to correct it or point it out. It is stress induced (if it is indeed stuttering). Build his strengths and the rest will follow... My thirteen year-old hasn't stuttered since he was 5 (he also had a speech impediment (within the normal range) which is also totally gone..

My 4 year old still does this.. Totally normal.