Prognosis for Non-Developmentally Typical Stuttering

My godmother is a speech pathologist (aka the highest ranking in speech disorder people, with her doctorate and over 30 years of experience)... and her answer is YES. With early intervention *and* a good home environment (sooooo many of the kids she sees their problems are made worse at home by parents who neither research, listen, nor care that they are making the problem worse) most of her true stuttering patients have the stutter completely resolved while they're still children, and ditto most other speech disorders and delays. Every child? No. But most. And AS important as early intervention (according to her), is also parental involvement in the loving/patience/kindness realm. Ditto most of the other speech problems she deals with.

When my mum was harassing me about my son's speech (it was fine) my godmother slipped me a packet of information on all the various disorders that's about an inch thick so I could combat my mum with facts and specs. It's amazing how many are out there. A few are actual physical problems (mostly fixable with surgery, like the tongue not being free enough to make certain shapes, or the buccal/trigeminal/or facial nerves being defective in one way or another, or a cleft palate, or an ear deformity, or, or, or), but most are a disconnect between mind and mouth, or a fine motor problem (the tongue is controlled by fine motor, and just like learning how to write), or an emotional override, etc. The book also had all the TREATMENTS for each disorder listed. And overall, they were: "Well THAT makes sense, yeah, I can see that, well THAT would be a good idea for anyone, oh cool... never thought of that one."

I'm sure when you go in to see the pathologist that she/he will be able to pinpoint exactly what's going on with your kiddo in a manner of minutes (it's fun watching my godmother at swim lessons, she can tag all 40 of the children in various classes in under 30 minutes (in large part because at least half have no problem... so it's "Nope, Nope, Dys-latin-I-Can't-Remember, Nope, Nope, Either x or y, Nope, X, X, Nope, Y..." Once you have your actual diagnosis it will undoubtedly be VERY easy to treat ((ahem, time consuming and tedius, but not like adhd where one typically spends 10-20 years working on a daily basis)... and they'll give you your own specific packet of info with explanations, treatment modalities, tips, tricks, things to encourage, things to avoid.

The hardest thing (again according to my friend) for PARENTS is how frustrated their child gets. Honey, if you've been handling ADHD frustrations this is going to be a walk in the park.

You are doing everything right. Just make sure you have a therapist (if possible) who has experience with fluency disorders. Fluency issues can be tough to overcome, but early intervention will help. They will also teach you ways to deal with her fluency. There are new technological advances which I have seen really help some people who stutter, they work on delayed auditory feedback if I remember correctly. She is probably a bit young, but it might be something to explore later. You never know it might also be a passing phase. Hang in there! I don't know if you are getting therapy through your school district, but your insurance might cover outpatient therapy with a fluency expert if it becomes a problem.

Vianne Bjornberg is a specialist for stuttering. I recommended her to you last time you posted. She is amazing and I'm telling you the results my son got were amazing. He was 3 1/2 when he started with her and he was speaking at the level of a 2 year old. His improvement is remarkable. Give her a call. You could meet with her at the very least and she'll make you feel so much better about the situation. You can google her info.

You're doing exactly what you should - you recognized that there might be a problem and you took action. Early intervention does make a difference. One of my friends has two children with verbal apraxia and sensory integration issues which looked nearly insurmountable at two. She got them help. Now they are 10 and 8, and unless you know the very subtle remaining signs, you would never pick these kids out as having issues. Also, having issues with speech or sight or processing or anything else of this type is not a reflection on how smart the child is or how successful he or she can be. I know this is scary, but please don't lose heart - getting your daughter the help she needs now will help her reach her potential. How lucky she is to have a mama who is paying attention and who is not paralyzed by fear, but is instead willing to go to bat for her child.