How Normal Is It for a 3 Yr Old to Stutter?

I agree on the other mothers it is VERY Normal at around age 3.
My son starting stuttering at age 3 especially when he was VERY excited or nervous. He is 15 now but at age 7 (2nd grade) he was in the gifted and talented class all the way until the end of his 8th grade year and he has been in A Honor roll since he started high school. He took his TASK test 2 yrs early from Duke University and is approved for scholarships.
He started reading at age 4 as I did and learned how to play the piano at age 4 and is in the marching band.
I have also heard that children that are advanced or gifted do stutter because their brain moves faster than their speech.

Good Luck

you know you might want to talk to a doctor because my hubby stutters and i thought for sure my son would and i was right go eith your gut feeling thats why we have them thats what makes us moms my son is only 3 and i'm putting him into classes better safe then sorry
hope this helps
-N.

I am by no means an expert, but our little girl also stuttered when she was about 3. We determined that she was getting excited about trying to communicate and then rushing her thoughts. So we made an effort to calm her down, tell her to take a breath and made sure we took the time to listen, so she felt that she had the time to talk and express herself. It still took awhile but she just turned 5 and has not had any signs of stuttering for over a year.

My daughter is 3 and started doing the same thing about 6 months ago. It seems to come and go as you were saying. I have been told that it is a normal part of their development and they are processing words faster in their heads than they can say them. As long as you have keep your pediatrician in the loop I would't worry too much. Especialy when kids are ahead of the curve intellectually they just can't say all the things they are thinking fast enough. Good luck.

My now 3 1/2 year old daughter did the same thing - although her's started around her 2nd birthday. She has always been well spoken and no one believes her age when I tell them. See seems to have grown out of it now - just a word here or there. For a while, i was very concerned and talked to everyone - all said it was normal.

I just wanted to let you know as well that this is very normal. My daughter is very advanced for her age, now 4. And she started stuttering right after her third birthday. It started out as nothing, in fact we hardly noticed it, then it got worse, she would stutter the fist two words or so out like 10 times, it got a little frustrating, because it was every single sentence all day long. It got to the point where she was frustrated herself. Our pediatrician said it was no big deal, but then she got to the point where she couldn't pronounce words correctly and would cry and tell us she couldn't talk. We went ahead and sought a speach therapist, because we know how cruel kids could be and we didn't want her to have to start school and still be waiting for her to grow out of it. It was the best thing we did, after only maybe four months the therapist had helped her to relax and taught her neat little exercises to get her words out correctly without stuttering or mispronouncing. This may not be for you, but we stopped her after four months because she had no problems at all. It has been a good six months since she last saw the therapist, and she hasn't had a bout of stuttering at all. We feel the extra help from the therapist helped aid the process of growing out of this thing quicker, and helped us understand what she was going through, we were able to be more patient, and help her with her exercises, so that she felt more comfortable with herself. Good Luck.

I wouldn't worry about it. I worked in a preschool and found that around 3 they stutter a lot.Their brains are working so fast that their mouths can't keep up with them! I see it in a lot of kids, the only ones that seemed to have to get speach tharapists were the ones that did not speak that much, so they needed more practice. Give it some time, I'm sure your little one will get better at speaking more fluently. Good luck!
C.

My six year old, who is very smart (is even in the Gifted & Talented program at his school) does the exact same thing. It started when he began talking and has not gotten any better and does worsen when he gets excited. My pediatrician says it is pretty common in kids with a higher level of intelligence (RELAX - maybe your son is just really smart!). He says their mouths just can not keep up with their thought processes. He said that this should not worry me until he reaches 3rd grade. If the problem persists past age 8, we may investigate some form of speech therapy.

Hope this helps you.

S.-

My daughter is almost 3 (at the end of the month) and goes through the EXACT SAME THING!! I have talked to speech therpists as well, as have also been told this is normal. My husband and I agree that this isn't something we should make into a "big" deal as he stuttered until Kindergarten and then outgrew it with no outside help. We have tried to get her to refocus her thoughts by asking her a question about what we think she is trying to say. Let me know how everything goes! Good luck!

A.

My son started stuttering at 2 years old during time of change like preschool starting, etc... He is highly intelligent. He started speaking quite early. The doctors just kept telling me it was normal. At 3, when he started getting frusterated and saying things like " I just can't say it." I decided I wanted him tested. PISD (Plano) offers free evaluations and services to ALL children in Plano. I am sure all school districts do this. My son was tested in Aug. 04 and qualified for 2 X per week sessions which he just finished. He is now in Kindergarten doing PERFECTLY!

In his case, his mind was working faster than his tongue muscles would allow. They taught him some coping techniques and worked with my husband and I as to what we were to do like NOT finish his sentences for him and NOT say things like "come on finish what you are trying to say".

I can't say enough about how wonderful it worked out for us.

C.

Hi! I am an SLP and have had family experiences with little ones stuttering. From what you describe your son's stuttering does seem to be developmental. If he were doing whole word repetitions I would be a little more concerned. How often does the dysfluency occur throughout your day?? Does it happen when he is excited or when he really wants to tell you some information, like he is going to be in trouble?? If you are really concerned you can contact ECI and have them come out or contact your school district to have him screened. My nephew did the exact same thing. When he was around 4 it stopped on its own. The only advice I can give is not to make a big deal out of his dysfluencies. Don't draw attention to them or ask him to slow down or spit it out. Stop whatever you are doing, turn and give him your undivided attention. Sometimes the kids feel rushed to get their message out to you and speed up therefore causing the stuttering, but if he knows you are going to listen to him it might calm him down...
Hope this helps.
J.

Hi S.,

I am a speech therapist and thought I would throw my two cents in. At 3, our little guys and gals brains are having soooo many thoughts that it is difficult for their month (which is motorically still developing) to keep up with all that they want to get out. So stuttering/stammering at this age is VERY normal as the other moms have said.

However, you do need to be very conscious of two things...1) if it persists past the age of 5 (not 3rd grade!!) they you should get them enrolled in speech therapy through the school system. The reason this is, is that there are certain stuttering patterns that reveal if the child needs intervention or not...and the earlier the better! Although pediatricians are very knowledgeable in a variety of areas, unless they have had specific history in studying stuttering patterns, they may not be the best authority! If you wait till 3rd grade and you do have a true stutter, then you have missed out on 3 years of therapy and there is usually a self esteem issue that goes along with it!

2) does your family have a history of stuttering (typically a male on either side of the family). If there is a history of stuttering, then you really want to monitor it!! It is hereditary!! 1% of the population stutters and out of that there is a fair percentage that "recovers" from it by the age of 8. But again, if your child is not in that percentage then you have missed out on a significant amount of therapy.

I hope that you don't find this too overwhelming. Please feel free to contact me if you have any question!

Sincerely,
~A. E., M.A. CCC-SLP

My daughter also went through the same thing and it happened right after I had my son. It was heartbreaking for me because she always spoke so well and then all of a sudden she would get stuck at the beginning of her sentences. A friend of mine had the same problem with her child and suggested spending one on one time with her once a day. I did that and it seemed to fade away pretty quickly. Not sure if the one on one time helped or it worked itself out but just thought I'd suggest it.

Hi Sara,
I am a Dr and I alo have son who is going to be 3 soon.
He started doing the same thing. It seems like it is when he is tired or excited or anxious. It is very normal, do not worry. He will be fine.
K.

Hi S.,

I had the same concern with my son last year (he was 3 also). Out of nowhere he started to stutter. In his case I noticed that it seemed to be when he was very excited or he was on a tangent. It was like his mouth couldn't keep up with his brain. I started interrupting him and asking him to stop and think about what he wanted to say and start over again. That seemed to work and after a couple months of doing this it just disappeared. It did resurface a while later, but I did the same thing and it went away again.

Good luck!