[Pudding]

Okay so my three year old son starting struggling with starting a sentence. Let me give you an example. Wha wha wha wha wha where is Daddy? He has trouble starting almost every sentence that has more than two words. Ma ma ma ma Mommy do you know where sissy is? It takes forever to get it out. I researched on the internet and this is very common amoung three year olds but I concerned about how excessive it is. I do not remember my two daughters struggling as much with speech. Anyone else's child struggling and did you have them evaluated?

Beth

[TygerLillie]

Our daughter did this when she was almost 2 and it continued on and off until she was 3 and then it stopped as quickly as it started. At her check up (2 year) we asked her doctor and he said that most kids go through some level of speech problems when they are starting out, some you may see others are not as noticable, he summed it up by saying the childs brain is working faster than the mouth and what comes out is stuttering even words they were able to say with no problems at other times. For our daughter it came and went at will, some times she would go a couple of weeks/months with no problems then it would come back and last for a week or so. The doctor said to treat her like nothing has happened and let her say what it is she wants to say with out helping her out. just like nothing was different. which was hard for us, as our daughter is a very good and clear talker.

good luck and I am sure it will all work out, there is also alot of information on the interent about childhood stuttering.

[CEB]

Yes and yes. Curtis (3) has an issue mainly with "uh, uh, uh" at the start of sentences (disfluency). He is getting speech therapy through EI (ages out next week but qualified for continuing services through our school district - just will be a new therapist). Around his 3rd birthday in May, his current therapist expressed concern that over the year plus she worked with him the disfluency had not improved (and in fact may have been worse) and was persistent (always there to some degree) so she recommended a stuttering specialist for evaluation. We had the evals done - basically the specialist taped us at play and then reviewed the tape. According to her report, Curtis is just outside the normal range of disfluency (disfluency around 10% of the time would be developmentally normal for his age - he was around 15% but not in the clear stuttering danger zone of 25-30% or something like that). She recommended we use some indirect therapy techniques at home and then we will go in for a follow up eval and probably some sessions with her in early Sept.

The techniques she recommended included (i) having us talk much slower and pausing after he finishes talking before we start talking to decrease any stress he is feeling over getting enough "air time" (she said to channel Mr Rogers in terms of our speaking pace), (ii) try to avoid putting him on the spot with questions that require long answers (so instead of asking what did you do today, ask did you go to x or see y today, or perhaps make up a silly story that is patently false and let him correct us if he wants ... like I hear you ate a dinosaur for lunch today) again designed to decrease speaking stress, and (iii) compliment him a lot when he speaks smoothly "I like the way you said that, nice and smooth"... also run your finger smoothly along the edge of a table as you say something smoothly and help/inspire him to do the same (to physically show smoothness). We do not criticize his disfluency nor do we make too big a deal out if it. Some of these techniques are specifically geared to Curtis because she noticed his disfluency was worse when he was trying to get attention or disrupt me from talking to someone else. Also, she noted it was a good sign that he did not seem upset (or even to care really) about his disfluency - it was not inhibiting him from speaking at all. According to the specialist, kids that are not self editing/still willing to speak tend to take the best to the therapy she suggested. And believe it or not these really have helped. The disfluency is not gone, but its markedly decreased. I am glad we went to the specialist. I am a little worried about some blacksliding when school starts for the first time in mid Sept, so that is when I want to do some specific sessions with her.

Good luck!

[chazzeldy2]

I'm bumping this b/c DD has started stuttering in the past month+, much along the lines of the OP. She's almost 2.5 and it seemed to start happening out of the blue. At first, I wasn't overly concerned b/c it was every so often. It's much more noticeable now, though, and seems to happen more often than not, regardless of the letter. She's "stuck" well in excess of several stutters to get going on what she wants to say, though it doesn't faze her.

We are taking PP's suggestions and trying to slow our speech pattern, not "fill in" what we think she's trying to say, etc. but I guess I'm not sure when the behavior actually warrants further professional evaluation. How long do I let this go under the premise it's a "normal" part of toddlerhood?

I appreciate your input.

-Candice

[MamaS]

It sounds like you are describing developmental stuttering which is very common between the ages of 2 and 5. Like TygerLillie said, their brains are rushing along faster than their speech centers.
It is very important not to:
- tease the child.
- finish the sentence for the child.
- stop listening to the child.
In fact, it is important to take the time and listen to the whole statement, and then respond in an appropriate way.
If the stuttering lasts longer than six months, you might want to get a speech evaluation.

[JustBarbara]

DS is now 3 1/2 and has had a few phases in the last year where he would do something similar - sometimes getting frustrated and ending with 'oh, I don't know'. I brought it up to our ped at 2 1/2 and again at 3 and she told me it was quite normal to have these phases. His mind is racing faster than his mouth. Never finish or rush the child to finish the sentence and as another poster said, keep listening. I will sit there and listen and wait ... I have a sister who is mentally retarded and she went through a stuttering phase for over a year when she was younger and I ended up going to speech therapy sessions with her and after about a year she was speaking normally. Does this happen when your child is tired, over-excited etc. I'd start keeping track so if you do decide to see someone you will have made notes of when it happens. Good luck. Also - is your child in a preschool/ daycare - have they noticed anything? Would not hurt to ask them.

[shelbydog]

It's very common and probably nothing to worry about. My son did it at ages 3 and 4. It is SO common it was actually on our pediatrician's "well check up" handout for age 4....kind of a list of "things you might notice at age 4" along with the list if things they should be doing at age 4. My son happened to be in ST for other issues at the time and our ST told us it can also happen as a sort of response to a hectic pace, stress and the child feeling hurried. It happened to my son interestingly when we were adopting Mia and getting all of her paperwork together. Life was nuts, fast paced and I felt like all we were doing was dragging my son here and there to "places" for signatures, FedEx, etc. So one piece of advice which helped alot was to SLOW DOWN our lives. This really helped.

Take a look at your current schedule, activities and life and really evaluate how fast paced things might be right now. Try to lighten the schedule, slow down, take your time, not lose patience. Good luck!

[Willispc]

My son did the same thing when he first turned 3. I felt so sorry for him I would just want to cry. It took him forever to get anything out. I had him evaluated by a speech therapist and she seemed to think it was normal. He will be 4 in January and now the only time he has trouble is if he is excited and trying to tell you an entire story.