Stuttering - Bronx, NY

Hi S.!
I am a speech therapist and a mom so I understand your concern totally. What I will tell you is that children often go through what is called "normal childhood dysfluency" and it usually occurs between the ages of 2 and 5 and fades away. Children may occasionally repeat sounds or syllables when they are excited or tired (not to mention they are trying to take in all of our fancy adult "lingo" and speech patterns :-) Being that I don't know your family history (for example I don't know if anyone else stutters etc...) I obviously will never attempt to diagnose her or anyone elses child via the internet but I will say this, try to avoid ANY show of disapproval (through facial expression) or say things like "slow down" or "take your time". Research has shown that it may make the child more self-concious and we want her to continue to talking freely . Always look directly at her in those moments and continue to postively encourage her fluent speech. If you are still concerned about her speech by age 3, I would recommend for your peace of mind that you have a speech therapist evaluate her. Only they can diagnose what is called "true" stuttering.

Here is a fantastic link that should give more insight into this topic ; http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_bstutter_hhg.htm

I hope this was helpful!

I have a 6 yr old daughter and she stutter when she was about that age, she no longer does. I think as your daughter gets older and starts talking more, she to may out grow the stuttering

When the baby starts to stutter, tell her ok honey slow down. Maybe she is just frustrated that she knows what she wants to say but the words are not comming out fast enough. Don't make a big deal over it and hopefully it will go away. Good Luck.

I would say that it is common for children that age to have speech mixups. You may want to ask your pediatrician to be sure, but my son used to stutter, mix up s's and f's, but it all straightened out. The are still mastering words at that age, and they will make mistakes until they are about 7 or so.

Have you talked with her pediatrician about it? Perhaps she needs to have a hearing test done to see if its impaired? Is she stuttering from sheer excitement of something or just general talking? Either way, I would address your concerns with her pediatrician and again perhaps get a hearing test done.

Good Luck!

Contact the NYS Department of Health in your county. They offer a FREE program called "Early Intervention" that provides educational and therapeutic services to children under the age of three. (Once they turn three they are under the auspices of your school district's special services and it's much harder to get help. Early Intervention will evaluate her at your home, free of charge. If they feel she has speech problems they will send a speech therapist to your home free of charge to work with your DD.

I had Early Intervention for my DD, and then she was immediately eligible for services in preschool through 3nd grade when she outgrew her speech impediment.

The evaluation is free, and will either put your mind at ease, or get services started to your DD.

Hey, yes it is normal, My son stuttered for the first few years of his life he is 4 and when he went to preschool alot more people could understand him. You can take her to her physician and get her tested. This would ease your mind alot. I did. Talk with them they will tell ya fact and fiction about the situation.
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I had the same question about my 2 year old nephew. I found out after talking to a teacher and a speech teacher that this is normal at this page. You don't really need to worry until your daughter is 3 1/2, 4 years old then I would start asking questions.