MOOKS, when to worry about stuttering?

[biblionerd]

Linus has always had a pretty extensive vocabulary. All of a sudden a few weeks ago he started stuttering. I read that this is normal and common especially for toddlers that do talk a lot because they can't keep up with how quickly they're trying to talk, but it seems to be bothering him. It's not an all day, every day thing. He's always said "Fiona" fine once he learned how to say it, but it seems to be the biggest work to trip him up. He'll repeat the "Fi" for a loooooong time. I just stay there and wait for him to work through it, but a lot of times he seems to get frustrated and just stutters for a while and says "fififififififififififi.... sister" and totally changes his word so he doesn't have to say it. Some times he'll get stuck on his word and actually yell in anger/frustration and get really upset that he can't get the word out. Has anyone had this happen or have any insight as to whether this is normal toddler language development or a sign of actual stuttering? His 2 year appt (is late) and is in July. 

[Deleted]

angiekay84

I think it's normal biblio - I have heard many of DS1's friends do this exact thing. And Linus is so young, I don't think it's a problem until MUCH later.

[skwcm80]

L did something similar between ages 2 and 3. She would repeat the first syllable in a word until her words caught up with what she trying to say. I don't remember her yelling in frustration or anything, it didn't even seem to bother her.

At first we would encourage her to slow down, but eventually we just let her do what felt right to her. I don't even remember when the issue resolved itself, but she doesn't stutter at all now.

[biblionerd]

Thanks ladies. I thought it was way too young to be an actual issue, but it just started worrying me when he started avoiding saying her name because of it and getting obviously frustrated about it. There are a couple of other words also that he would avoid saying as well once he started tripping up on them, I just can't remember what right now.

[tuck]

Holden would get stuck on whole words for a while, but it resolved itself. I think it's still too early to worry about it, but maybe mention it to your pedi next time.

[angiekay84]

Hi biblio, speech path here! (Hence Star's tag). It's normal for kids to stutter during their language development years. Whole word repetitions are especially common, and just like other mom's mentioned, they are just going faster than they can necessarily keep up developmentally. Beginning sound repitions like you mentioned are normal too, I'd just keep an eye on it for now. Once kids hit later preschool/early elementary, they can receive speech therapy for it if necessary, but in our district we definitely watch for awhile first to see if it resolves on it's own.

Good tip for a parent would be to not interrupt during a stuttering episode, that can cause more frustration and points out the issue more prominently which might make older kids insecure about it. Just let him finish (and have the time to speak) and move on. PPers have good instincts, just let them be at his age and it most likely will resolve on it's own.

[katfco]

If he's avoiding her name, maybe you could come up with a cute nickname only he calls her?

[thedahliharpa]

H is older but she went through a stuttering stage about 6mos ago. It lasted a few weeks and was a bit unsettling.

[gekeler6]

One of my girls were still stuttering when they started Kindergarten, as well as problems with memory retention and following directions, which I was concerned about. She was also delayed with learning the alphabet; we would review 3 letters at a time and by the time we reviewed the first and go over them again she would "forget". We looked into speech pathology through the school district and it has helped her tremendously! I wouldn't be too concerned yet. It's normal at this age for their minds to run faster than their voices and to avoid bigger or hard to pronounce words. After doing 3 years of speech working with a pathologist, my 8 year old is reading and writing with excellence. She just needed a little extra time a week to work with a specialist who knows how to work on areas of concern. I was worried she would feel bad about herself, but she really liked going. Her stuttering is gone (she could have been a bit late to outgrow), and she can now read a sentence and follow directions well. Before, because she was not able to learn the alphabet it delayed her reading and writing, which made it extremely frustrating for her to stay on level with the class. We were concerned about holding her back a grade to repeat, but she has worked hard and proved otherwise. Don't worry too much about it, he sounds like he talks a lot for his age!!

[biblionerd]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of the insight. Today he stutters if he tries to call her Fiona like usual, but has decided her name is "Princess Fiona" today and doesn't stutter when he says that lol.